Once Seen, Things Cannot Be Unseen
by PygmyCritter
Summary: Park's living situation is awkward after finding her parents in compromising positions.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first crack at a House story. Short chapter to start, to test the water. Obviously, I own nothing.**

* * *

"My parents have a better sex life than I do." Park casually commented as she stood in the silent elevator with Chase. "It's really sad, but true."

Chase just stared at the small woman beside him in confusion. He thought he should be used to her random, sometimes very awkward comments, but this one was out there, even for Park.

"I don't know what to say to that." he replied.

"I went to pick up Popo from her water aerobics class and we walked in the front door and found them..."

"Please, stop." Chase begged her, not wanting the image of her parents to be burned into his mind. "I don't need to hear anymore."

"Did you ever walk in on your parents?" she asked. "It's really weird at my house now."

"I'm so happy to say that I've never been in that position." he sighed in relief. "It's good though, that your parents are still into one another."

"Yeah, that's true." she agreed as the doors of the elevator opened to the ground floor of the hospital and they stepped out. "But, I wish they'd keep it in the bedroom."

"So do I." Chase nodded as they stopped at the nurse's station to get some charts for patients waiting in the clinic. "That way I wouldn't have to hear you talk about this."

"Sorry." she said. It wasn't her intention to freak him out. She just needed to vent a bit and she'd found that Chase was a great person to vent to, be it about House or her family, he was always nice and listened to her and gave advice when he felt she needed it, or when she asked for it. "Like I said, it's just been a bit weird."

"You're welcome to that spare room at my place." he muttered as he looked over the chart for a patient who needed stitches.

"Popo would end up spending a lot of time there again." Park pointed out.

"Not a problem." Chase smiled. "It would give me a chance to win back that fifty bucks I lost to her last time she came over."

"You're going to be a bad influence on her."

"I think she's a bad influence on me." Chase said defensively. "Have you seen that woman drink?"

"Maybe you two should stay away from one another." Park laughed. "I'd hate to come to work and find out that you're my new grandfather."

"A drunken night in Atlantic City." Chase nodded. "She does have a strange, seductive quality about her."

"I already have the images of my parents in my head, the last thing I need is images of you and Popo."

"You'd rather just have images of me." Chase replied with a wink before heading off to see his first clinic patient.

"Oh, please." Park scoffed. "You're not that good looking, you know!" she called after him, a bit too loudly, causing some of the nurses and patients to stare at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Park grabbed the next chart that sat at the nurse's station, read it over quickly and headed off to exam room 3. This would likely be her last patient of the day and she was eager to get home. Well, she was eager to get off work and out of the hospital. She was a bit nervous about going home after catching her parents. But, Popo was home, so it should be safe. If anything, they should have themselves locked in their bedroom, which is what they should have done before. She didn't know what had gotten into them, but the last few weeks they'd been acting like hormonal teens, always touching, and as Park found out the other night, a bit more than touching. In the living room of all places!

"Mr. Whitehall?" she asked as she poked her head around the door and saw a large young man sitting on the exam table, a bloodied kitchen towel wrapped around one hand.

"Yeah, that's me." he nodded as he looked up and smiled.

"I'm Dr. Park." she introduced herself as she closed the door behind her. "What happened?" she asked as she put on a pair of gloves and carefully removed the towel.

"Some friends and I were screwing around and I fell and landed on some glass." he gave a half-hearted laugh.

"It doesn't look too deep." she said as she flushed the wound and inspected it.

"Good." he hissed as his wound was cleaned.

"Sorry." she said.

"No problem." he said as the pain subsided. "What does the 'C' stand for?" he asked as he read Park's ID badge.

"Chi." she replied as she moved to the cupboard to get some gauze.

"Cool name." he smiled. "Chinese?"

"Huh?" she asked, confused since she was paying more attention to the fact that the room had not been restocked recently and she didn't have the gauze she needed.

"Are you Chinese?" Whitehall asked.

"No, my parents are from Korea and my mom is from the Philippines." she explained. "Excuse me, I need to go grab something."

"I'll be here."

"You're still here?" Chase asked as he signed his last chart of the day before he clocked out and headed home.

"Yeah, just finishing up with my last patient." Park replied as she walked past, not even stopping. "Exam room three needs to be restocked." she informed the nurse behind the desk.

"I'll make sure it's done, Dr. Park." the nurse smiled as she turned her attention back to the computer screen in front of her.

"Okay, , I just need to bandage you up and you can go home." Park said as she came back into the exam room.

"Kyle." he said as she began to open the gauze roll.

"Excuse me?"

"My name, it's Kyle." he smiled. "You can call me by my first name."

"Okay." she shrugged, ignoring the smiles he kept directing her way. "We're all set. You should come back in about five days to have the stitches removed." she explained as she stripped her exam gloves off and tossed them in the garbage can. "Keep it dry as much as you can." she pulled her prescription pad out of her pocket and quickly jotted something down before handing him a slip of paper. "This is a script for a minor painkiller." she told him.

"That's it?" he asked as he slipped off the exam table and stood towering above her.

"Yeah, you're free to go." she nodded as she opened the door and motioned for him to go ahead of her, following him out of the room.

"You finished that up quickly." Chase laughed as he leaned against the nurse's station.

"Yeah." she nodded. "I thought you were going home."

"I thought I'd talk to the new nurse. Kelly." he replied.

"Holly." she corrected him with a roll of her eyes. "Love of your life?" she asked mockingly.

"I only just met her, give me a break." he defended himself.

"Excuse me, Chi?"

Park looked over, then up, to find Kyle Whitehall suddenly standing beside her. "Uhh, can I help you?" she asked feeling rather uncomfortable by the patient who she'd just met using her first name.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go get a bite to eat?" he asked.

"I can't do that." she answered matter of factly.

"Why not?" he laughed.

"You're a patient." was her simple answer. "I'm sorry."

Chase was trying his best to stifle his laughter as he watched Park squirm. She was usually awkward, but in situations like these, though they didn't seem to happen often, offered a great deal of entertainment. It had occurred to him that it might be slightly rude for him to find amusement when his friend was obviously flustered and at a loss for words, but he couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he watched the large man hit on her. Actually, looking at him he guessed Kyle Whitehall was barely out of high school, if he was even out of high school.

"Well, that's too bad." Kyle said. "I thought we had something."

"I'm sorry, but I was just treating your wound and doing my job." Park quickly explained, trying to figure out how he could have seen their interaction as anything else.

"Okay, fine." he said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Thanks for the stitches." he added before turning and leaving quickly.

"Did you pay him to do that?" Park asked as she turned to look at Chase who had been slowly dissolving into laughter.

"What?" he asked. "No, of course I didn't"

"Oh, sorry." she apologized, feeling rather stupid for accusing him.

"It's okay." he laughed. "I'm sorry, the look on your face, I can't help but laugh." he said as she turned and glared at him.

"I'm going home." Park said as she turned and left.

"It was funny!" Chase called after her as he caught sight of Kelly...no, Holly, walking past.

As Park walked across the parking lot, digging through her purse for her car keys, she was really hoping that her parents had their hormones in check by the time she got home. She was blissfully unaware of the fact that as she unlocked her car door and climbed in she was being watched.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter took so long. Just started a new job and have been training. Hope you enjoy and thanks for all the reviews!**

* * *

"When are some people going to start getting freakishly ill?" Park asked as she sat with Chase, Taub and Adams around the table in the team conference room.

"You do realize we're doctors, don't you?" Taub asked as he stared across the table at her. "We want people to be healthy."

"We want to make them healthy." she corrected him. "We're doctors, it's what we do. If no one gets sick, then there's nothing for us to do."

"Well, if we don't get any cases, I do a few hours in the clinic and then I can go home and spend time with my girls." Taub smiled rather smugly.

"I volunteer at a women's shelter." Adams chimed in.

"I get a date." Chase smiled.

"Shock of the century." Park rolled her eyes.

"You do have a family to go home to." Adams reminded her.

"I've seen a bit too much of my family lately." she sighed, glaring at Chase's chortle of laughter.

"Why is that funny?" Adams asked, looking back and forth at the two in confusion.

Lately, she'd noticed that Chase and Park seemed to have gotten closer and more friendly. They were always teasing each other and sharing little inside jokes that Taub and herself knew nothing of. It made her feel not only a bit left out, but if she was to be honest, a little jealous. What could those two possibly have in common beyond their occupation that would make them so chummy?

"It's not." Park assured her. "Not in the slightest."

"Ah, my crack team is gathered and doing absolutely nothing." House said as he walked through the door carrying a large bouquet of flowers, orange lilies and purple daisies. An odd looking assortment, but colorful.

"Don't worry, we'll stop doing nothing before we threaten to steal that job from you." Taub smiled.

"Oh, big words from such a little man." House exclaimed as he sat at the head of the table and began to smell the flowers he held.

"Who sent you flowers?" Adams asked, finding the image before her to be odd, and a bit unsettling.

"Why do you sound so surprised at the fact someone sent me flowers?" he inquired. "I happen to be a very charming person."

"Since when?" Chase asked.

"I bet he paid one of his hookers to send them." Taub remarked, thinking it would be like House. Odd and pointless as it may seem.

"Please." House scoffed. "I pay them for one thing and one thing only." he said. "Usually. But who would pay a hooker to send them flowers?"

"They're for Park." Adams commented suddenly as she craned her neck to see the name on the card.

"House can keep them." Park said, a feeling of unease and dread filling her when Adams said they were for her.

"Who's sending you flowers?" Adams asked with a smile. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No." Park answered quickly and simply, hoping to move on to a new topic.

"They're not from him, are they?" Chase asked, knowing that Kyle Whitehall had already sent a few bouquets to Park's house.

"I assume." she shrugged. "I don't know who else would be sending me the stupid things."

"How many does that make now?" he asked.

"Fifteen." Park muttered. "Can we talk about something else?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. "If we don't have any cases, maybe I'll just head down to the clinic."

"Who is she talking about?" House asked as he perked up. "Someone has an admirer?" he smirked, seeing huge potential for making life hell for one of his team.

"It's a guy who Park treated in the clinic a few weeks ago." Chase explained. "He asked her out."

"Thanks for keeping it quiet." Park remarked, becoming a bit more agitated and uncomfortable.

"You turned him down I assume." Adams said. She couldn't see Park overstepping the bounds of a doctor/patient relationship.

"Yeah, I'm not so stupid or desperate that I'd get involved with a patient." Park assured them. "No offense." she said, looking at Chase.

"None taken." he replied, feeling just a bit offended.

"Look, he's just some weirdo who keeps sending me flowers, soon he'll find another woman or perhaps a shiny object to distract him." Park said, wanting an end to the subject. "Until then, I just give the flowers he sends to the volunteers here at the hospital to put in patient rooms." she added as she got to her feet. "I'm going down to the clinic since there's nothing to do up here."

They watched Park leave in silence and once she was out of sight, they looked at one another. They could all tell that she was more shaken by the unwanted attention than she was letting on to them.

"He'll leave her alone soon, right?" Adams asked.

"Hopefully." Chase said as he got to his feet. "If he doesn't, I guess something will have to be done about it." he grabbed his lab coat from the back of his chair and headed for the door. "I'm gonna head down to the clinic, too."

"Well now." House said as he leaned back in his chair and stared off into space for a moment. "That's weird."

"The fact that Park is being harassed by a former patient?" Taub asked.

"Well, that, too." House nodded as he picked up the bouquet. "But, she left with out her flowers." he explained as he got to his feet and headed into his office, leaving Taub and Adams to stare after him.

"It's hard to tell when he's joking and trying to be annoying." Adams remarked.

"It's House, he doesn't really have to try to be annoying, he just is." Taub pointed out.


	4. Chapter 4

"Thank you, Dr. Chase." the short, round and bald man said as he shook Chase's hand.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Prince." Chase smiled as he took his hand back.

"This won't go any further than us, right?" the little man asked as he leaned in, speaking in hushed tones.

"Doctor/patient confidentiality." Chase assured him. He didn't want to discuss with anyone what he had to remove from the man's body, or where he had to remove it from.

"Thanks." the man sighed happily. "See ya."

"I hope not." Chase muttered.

He watched his patient leave, and as he did so, he caught site of Kyle Whitehall in the waiting area holding a magazine, but obviously not reading it. He was watching something, or someone and Chase had a good idea who. Following the young man's gaze, sure enough, he saw Park talking to Foreman.

"This is getting ridiculous." Chase groaned as he signed the chart he held, handing it to a nurse, he set off to the waiting area.

Kyle saw Chase coming his way and quickly tossed the magazine he was holding onto a nearby table and headed for the exit.

"Hey, Kyle." Chase said as he caught up to him. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked as he steered the other man outside.

"I've gotta get going." Kyle said, eyes darting around as he was beginning to look nervous.

"It'll take just a minute." Chase assured him.

"Okay."

"I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but I think it's time you give Dr. Park her space." he said as nicely as he could.

"Excuse me, but my relationship with Chi is none of your business." Kyle replied as he became a bit agitated.

"You asked her out, she politely turned you down." Chase continued. "You don't have a relationship with her."

"I'm sorry if you're jealous, doc, but mind your own business." Kyle said as he tried to move passed Chase. "If she has a problem, she'll let me know."

"She has, several times from what I've been told." Chase fell into step beside Kyle as he walked towards the parking lot. "She's a friend and, to be honest, you're scaring her. So please, if you really do care about her, leave her alone."

"I'm gonna say this one more time." Kyle said as he stopped and turned to Chase. "Mind your own business." he said the words slowly as he looked down at Chase before turning and leaving.

* * *

Park was exhausted. Twelve hours in the clinic listening to some very boring cases. She was happy to help people, that's why she became a doctor after all, but she was eager to be working for House, because of the intense cases that he always had assigned to him and his team. Knowing that she was helping with something bizarre and that few doctors could diagnose and cure made her feel as though she was truly making a difference.

Now that she was home, she wanted nothing more than to brush her teeth, change into a nightgown and collapse into her bed and pass out. She quietly unlocked the backdoor that led into the kitchen and let herself in. It was after midnight and was hoping not to wake her parents or Popo. Without turning on any lights, she carefully crept through the kitchen and out into the dining room. Making her way along slowly, she stopped suddenly when she heard something in the room with her. She slowly and carefully pulled her cell phone from her pocket and pushed a random so she could use it as a source of light. She quickly wished she hadn't done that as she and her parents both started screaming. Her mother grabbed the tablecloth and tried to cover herself and her husband. Park found herself letting out a small shriek before flying up the stairs to her room and locking her door behind her.

She didn't care that her parents still had a sex life. She just didn't want to see it!

"I need to get a place of my own." she groaned as she sat on her bed and took her shoes off. "I'm going to go crazy if I walk in on that one more time." she sighed as she let herself fall back. "I'm already talking to myself." she yawned. She would definitely have to get onto that as soon as possible.

The great thing about sleep is that for a few hours you have no worries. Constantly walking in on her parents and Kyle Whitehall's unwanted attention, her two biggest problems at the moment seemed to fade away as she drifted off to sleep. For a few hours, Chi Park was at peace.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks again for the reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this so far :D**

* * *

"Hey, Chase!" Park called as she awkwardly ran up to him as he left the men's room. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." he nodded, resisting the urge to laugh at the way she ran.

"You said before that if I needed a place to crash..."

"You walked in on them again, huh?" he laughed.

"It's not funny." she said, her expression very serious. "I saw things last night." she shuddered at the memory that would not leave her mind.

"You can have the spare room." he laughed as he reached into his pants pocket and took out his keys, removed one and handed it to her. "Here's my key."

"I assume you plan on being home well after I've gotten there." she said as she took it.

"I've got a date." he informed her.

"The new nurse no doubt." Park guessed.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I promise you won't walk in anything." he assured her.

"I would rather see you having sex." she said without thinking. "What I meant was, I'd rather catch you in the act rather than my parents...because I'm not related to you." she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." he laughed as he opened the door to their conference room and held it open for her.

"Thanks." she said as she slipped the lone key into the pocket of her lab coat.

"You can keep that one and I'll grab the spare later." he quickly said as the others filed into the room as they sat down.

"Okay." she nodded in understanding. They were friends, true, but no matter how comfortable she was with him, she was still able to feel like an idiot at times. Like that exact moment for instance.

"Good news!" House smiled as he limped into the room, dropping a few files on the table as he passed to the coffee machine. "Someone is deathly ill."

"Finally." Park said as she scooped up one of the files, waiting for House to go over the specifics.

* * *

As she grabbed her bag, she looked one more time in the large mirror that hung over the dresser in the spare room of Chase's apartment. It was nice being able to return home after a long day at work and just be able to relax. She felt she didn't need to worry about walking in at the wrong time. Or so she thought.

As she left her room, she turned to shut her door. When she turned around she found herself bumping into a half-naked woman. The new nurse.

"Oh, I didn't know Robbie had a roommate." she said with a smile, seemingly oblivious to her state of undress.

"Uh..yeah." Park tried not to stare at the frighteningly perky breasts that seemed to be looking right at her. "No..I'm just staying here..." she was starting to get too flustered. "I've gotta get to work." she said as she grabbed her jacket from the back of the sofa before snagging her keys from the hook by the front door and quickly left. Well, at least she didn't walk in on them having sex.

* * *

Kyle Whitehall watched the front entrance of the hospital and waited for Park to arrive. When after waiting for an hour, he finally saw her walk in by herself. He smiled. He kept an eye on her as she got onto the elevator, realizing she was going to be alone, he dashed off to catch it before the doors closed on him. He needed to talk to her. He felt their relationship was in danger. If they didn't work out their problems, it could ruin what they had.

"Chi, we need to talk." he said as he slid into the small space as the doors closed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she backed into the corner of the elevator.

"I know, I know." he said as he pushed the button to halt the progress of the elevator. "I shouldn't be bothering you at work." he ran his hand through his short, dark hair. "But, honey, I feel like I'm losing you." he sounded frantic.

"Mr. Whitehall, you're scaring me." she said as she looked at the panel, trying to figure out if she could reach it and get the elevator moving again. She couldn't. He was standing between her and the panel and he was too large for her to try to fight her way by him.

"Sweetie, you can call me Kyle when we're alone." he tried to touch her face, but she flinched and inched back into the corner more. "I know, when we're here you should do the ''Mr. Whitehall" thing since I was your patient and you don't want to get into trouble." he laughed.

"Please, just let me go." she begged.

"I just need to know why you weren't home last night." he went on as though she hadn't spoken at all.

"What?" she asked. "You know where I live?"

"Yeah, of course I do." he replied. "But you weren't there last night."

"I...I..." Park was starting to feel sick to her stomach.

"You were with that Australian guy, weren't you?" he asked, his face becoming red. "I told him to back off and stay away from you!" he turned and punched the wall.

He began pacing around the small area like a caged animal and Park wanted nothing more than to just get the elevator going again so she could get away from him and this situation.

"You talked to Chase?" she asked.

"Yeah, he was butting in on our relationship, telling me to stay away from you." he said. "Can you believe the nerve of that ass?"

Kyle began pacing again. This was bad. First that doctor tells him to stay away form Chi, then, the next thing he knows she's staying the night at his place. She couldn't be cheating on him. She wouldn't do that. She wasn't like the others.

"Are you sleeping with him?" he asked as he stopped once again and stared down at her.

"No." she shook her head, on the verge of tears. "Please, just let me go to work."

"Sweetie, don't look at me like that." he said as he moved closer to her, backing her even further into the corner. "I don't mean to accuse you of anything." he said as he cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him. "It's just that I love you so much, I don't want to lose you."

"It's okay." she whispered, refusing to let herself cry in front of him. "Can I please just go to work now?" she asked.

"Yeah." he said softly. "Okay." he muttered as he pushed the button to allow the elevator to continue. "You should just let that guy know he needs to be careful of what he says." he looked over to her and smiled. "It's not good to get involved in other people's business."

Park just stared ahead at the doors, willing them open. She struggled to keep her breathing steady and not be sick all over the place. She needed to get out of there. She needed out now!

"You wanna go get dinner tonight?" he asked.

Park just shook her head and muttered something about work. When the doors opened, she flew out, running past House, Chase, Adams, Taub and Wilson who were standing around a stuffed monkey. She needed to get to the lady's room before she was sick in the hall.

"Park?" Adams asked as she saw the small woman rush past.

"Son of a bitch." Chase muttered as he saw Kyle Whitehall's face disappearing behind the closing doors of the elevator.

"What?" Taub asked.

"Whitehall." Chase explained.

"Flower guy?" House asked as Adams ran off after Park.

"Stalker." Chase muttered. "Is Foreman here yet?" he asked.

"No clue." the others shrugged.

"Park has a stalker?" Wilson asked as Chase headed for the stairs.

"Yeah." House nodded.

"What do we do?" Taub asked.

"Get her karate lessons?" House shrugged. "How should I know?" he asked as he looked back at the elevator before heading into his office.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, Whitehall!" Chase called out as he followed the younger man outside.

"I'm busy." Whitehall said without turning to look at him.

"Stay the hell away from, Park!" Chase said as he fell into step along side him.

"Mind your own business." Whitehall said as he stopped and looked down at Chase. "None of this concerns you."

"She's a friend of mine and you're scaring the hell out of her, so it is my concern." Chase replied through gritted teeth.

"Chase, get back inside." Foreman's voice broke the silence that had fallen between the two men.

"We're just talking." Chase lied.

"Get back inside, now." Foreman motioned to a security guard who stood just behind him. "Please escort Dr. Chase back inside, Henry."

"He should be escorting this creep off the grounds." Chase argued.

"Now, Chase!" Foreman stepped aside so that Henry the guard could take Chase by the arm. "We'll talk later." he whispered to Chase as he walked past.

Whitehall watched with a smile as Chase was led back into the hospital. That little man was really starting to get on his nerves. Why couldn't he just let Chi work on her own relationship? There had to be something going, regardless of what Chi told him. Even if Chi didn't have any interest in the Australian doctor, he felt that Chase might try to get in their way. He couldn't let that happen.

"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Whitehall." Foreman said once he made sure that Chase was back inside the hospital.

"It's fine." Whitehall said. "I need to get going now." he added as he turned to leave.

"Actually, Mr. Whitehall, I need to talk to you." Foreman stopped him. "I've been told that you've been harassing a member of my staff."

"I don't know why anyone would tell you that." Whitehall shrugged.

"I'm going to have to ask you to stay away from Princeton-Plainsboro." Foreman said. "Unless it's an absolute emergency of course."

"So, unless I'm knocking at death's door, or someone I know is, I can't come here for treatment?" Whitehall asked, not liking what he was hearing.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Foreman nodded. "I have to make sure my staff feel safe and comfortable in their working environment. I'm sure you understand, Mr. Whitehall."

"Yeah, I do." Whitehall nodded. "So, unless there's an emergency, you won't see me here." he said with a smile before turning and leaving.

Foreman watched the young man leave and sighed in relief. If he hadn't come out when he had, he was sure that he would have been suspending Chase for assaulting Whitehall. He would have to do something with Chase to make sure he kept his temper in check.

* * *

Chase glanced into the team's conference room and saw that it was empty. No doubt the others were with their patient. He figured he should probably join them. Perhaps if he looked sufficiently busy, Foreman wouldn't feel the need to pull him aside and lecture him about his near run in with Whitehall. He knew that he shouldn't have gone after the man, but the look of fear on Park's face as she ran past the team in the hall, and the look of satisfaction on Whitehall's face as he watched her flee was more than Chase could take. He knew that if Foreman and that security guard hadn't shown up when they did, there would have been an altercation, one that Chase wasn't so sure he would have come away from without a great deal of bodily injury to himself. Whitehall was massive! He must be at least 6'3" and about 300 pounds. He knew Whitehall could easily take him in a fight, but the urge to punch the bastard was there all the same.

Chase was on his way to the patient's room when he saw Park slipping into the break room and decided to check on her. He wanted to make sure she was okay, and to see if he could convince her to head home for the rest of the day.

"Hey." he said as he poked his head around the door and looked around, making sure they were alone.

"Hey." she quietly replied as she made herself a cup of black tea.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he came to stand next to her, grabbing a coffee cup for himself.

"No, I'm totally freaked." she shook her head as she stared at the tea bag that bobbed up and down in her cup.

"I can understand that." Chase said as he picked up his cup, turned and leaned against the counter.

"Can you do something for me?" she asked, not taking her eyes from her tea.

"Sure."

"Don't talk to him again." she said bluntly. "Don't talk to him, don't go near him, don't even look at him."

"What?"

"He said that you told him to leave me alone." she finally tore her gaze from the tea and looked at him.

"Yeah, I did." he nodded. "I was hoping it might scare him off."

"It didn't." Park said. "It made him even more upset. Just don't go near him again."

"So, I'm supposed to stand by and watch you be tortured by this creep?" Chase asked, completely baffled.

"I don't want you getting hurt!" Park snapped. "Him being there every time I turn around is bad enough, but if he did something to you, or anyone, I wouldn't be able to handle that."

"He's not going to hurt me." Chase set his cup down and put his arm around her shoulder.

"You weren't in that elevator." she said quietly. "You didn't see the look in his eyes, or hear the tone of his voice, Chase." she looked up at him, tears threatening to fall despite he efforts to keep them from doing so. "I'm afraid he might do something to you."

"Okay. If it will make you feel better, I'll stay away from him." Chase sighed. "Unless he's near you, bothering you, then I'm going to step in."

"Just promise me, that unless it's some sort of emergency, you won't go anywhere near him and you won't have anything to do with him."

"Scout's honor." he smiled.

"Were you ever even a scout?" she asked skeptically.

"Well, not technically, no." he shook his head. "I was friends with a few boys who were."

"Then that doesn't really count."

"I promise." he said in all seriousness. "Unless it's a matter of life or death, I will not go anywhere near that man."

"Thank you." she gave a weak smile. "Can I say something without you laughing at me?" she asked.

"Depends on what it is." he replied honestly.

"Well, I'll go for it anyway." she took a deep breath. "You're my best friend." she blurted out without looking at him, feeling like a bit of an idiot as she said it.

"Let you in on a secret." he whispered as he leaned in close. "You're mine." he smiled.

"We should get back to work." Park laughed nervously.

"You sure you're up to it?" he asked. "You could head home. I don't think Foreman or House would mind."

"What would I tell my parents?" she asked as she took a swig of her cooling tea.

"Oh, you'd head to your parent's place?" Chase asked, a bit disappointed.

"Well, that's my home." she pointed out.

"You know, my landlord said I could get a roommate whenever I wanted." he said as he dumped his cooled coffee in the sink and rinsed the cup. "And having someone help pay rent and utilities wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"Robert Chase, are you saying you don't want me to leave?" Park asked with a smile.

"I'm saying, that you wanted to find your own place, have some privacy, and I wouldn't mind some company."

"You do live in a safe and quiet building, in a decent neighborhood." Park conceded.

"And you'd have an awesome roommate." he pointed out as he held the door open for her as they entered the hallway.

"You're sure about this?" she asked as they slowly made their way to the elevator. "You are taking into account a certain stalker, right?"

"Positive." he nodded.

"Okay." she said. "It's a deal, you've got yourself a roommate." she held out her hand for a handshake.

"Great." he laughed as he shook her hand.

He wasn't going to let her know that part of the reason he wanted her to be his roommate was because of that certain stalker. He felt better knowing where she was and that she was safe. At home and at work, Chase would be able to protect her.

"Finally decided to show up?" House asked Chase and Park stepped off the elevator.

"Sorry." they both said. "How's the patient?" Park asked.

"Not much of a change either way." Taub replied. "That could be good or bad, not sure yet."

"You're sure you're okay, Park?" Adams asked as she eyed her.

"Would it help if I said I was totally freaked and constantly looking over my shoulder?" Park asked.

"No, but it would be understandable." she replied.

"That reminds me." House said as he headed off to his office, the group following after him.

"What reminds you of what?" Taub asked as they filed into House's office.

"I got a little present for each of you." he said as he handed out small boxes.

"Why?" Chase asked as he cautiously inspected the box he held.

"Are you waiting for them to explode?" House asked.

"Kind of." Park nodded.

"Uh, that would have me sent back to prison." he pointed out. "Do you think I'd risk that just to prank you?"

"Kind of." Taub nodded.

"A giant jawbreaker?" Adams asked as she carefully opened the box.

"Silly putty." Taub said as he opened his.

"Hello Kitty confetti?" Chase stared at the small plastic bag in the box.

"A stun gun?" Park stared at the object before her. "Is it legal for any of us to have this?"

"I know of no law saying the average person on the street can't have one." House replied. "Then again, I know very little about the law." he added as he grabbed his backpack from the floor next to his desk and headed for the door.

"You're leaving?" Adams asked as she stared at Park's ''gift''.

"No change in the patient, and you all have my number in case there is one." he said.

"Will you answer the phone if we call?" Taub asked.

"I said you had my number, I never said I'd answer the phone should any of you call." House said as he left.

"He's a weird man." Taub said as he looked over to Park who was gingerly picking up the stun gun. "What are you going to do with that?"

"I have no idea." she shrugged. "Why would he give me something like this?"

"His own very unique way of saying he cares." Chase answered. "He won't say it with words..."

"But he'll say it with a potentially deadly weapon?" Adams shook her head.

"Like I said, his own very unique way." Chase replied.


	7. Chapter 7

Chase shut the front door behind him before stopping to pull off his running shoes. Having the day off work was nice. Getting to sleep in late, going for a run and just laying around the house doing nothing was a nice treat. Things were a bit different now that Park was living with him full time, but it was mostly a good different. It was nice to have someone to come home to, or to have them come home to him. It was still a bit odd having someone else around the house. He wasn't used to fighting for the remote, or having someone else's name on the answering machine. It had been such a long time, but he was happy to make the adjustment again.

"Morning." Park said as she walked out of her bedroom and headed to the coffee pot.

"Morning." Chase replied as he grabbed a cup and held it out for her to fill after her own.

"Can you do me a favor?" she asked after carefully taking a sip.

"Maybe."

"I know it's been a while since you've lived with anyone, especially a woman." she began. "But, do you think you could put the toilet seat down please?"

"I'll try and remember." he nodded. "I assume you had an accident." he chuckled.

"Umm, yeah." she rolled her eyes.

"You didn't notice it was up?" he asked, never understanding why women couldn't simply look and see if the seat was up or down.

"It was like 3 a.m. and I was half asleep." she explained. "I didn't notice until I was sitting inside the toilet bowl."

Chase couldn't help but laugh at the image of a sleepy Park, feet stuck up in the air, bottom firmly planted in a toilet bowl.

"It's not funny." she punched his arm. "I could have been seriously hurt."

"Yeah, you're right." he nodded as he tried to get his laughter under control. "I'm sorry, I'll try my best to remember."

"Thanks." she said as she headed into the living room to grab her shoes.

"At least you know I always flush."

"Oh, that's just gross." she wrinkled her nose. "But, I am thankful for it." she admitted.

"Where you off to?" he asked as he watched her gather her things.

"To my parent's place." she sighed. "I've got a few more boxes to bring over."

"Maybe I should go with you, to help you carry stuff." he suggested.

"That's okay." she said, knowing full well that he was offering to come with her more as a bodyguard than as a helper.

"You sure it's safe to go out alone?" he asked. It had actually been more than a week since either of them had seen or heard from Whitehall, but that made Chase all the more nervous. Why had he seemingly just given up all of a sudden?

"We haven't seen him." she pointed out. "Maybe that last run in with you and Foreman's talk got through to him?" she asked hopefully. She had to admit though, she was worried. Chase's first talk with Whitehall had done nothing to stop him from coming around all the time, why would that last one be any different.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's given up..."

"I know." she put her hands as a signal for him to stop talking. "But, if he is still watching, I don't want him seeing you and I together." she explained. "He's already threatened you once, I don't want to see if he really meant it."

"Have you told your parents about it?" Chase asked as he sat on the arm of the sofa.

"Are you kidding?" she asked. "They're still freaking out about my moving in here. If they knew about him, their heads would explode...or they'd lock me away somewhere."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." he did understand fully. He had a call from each of Park's parents, letting him know they'd be keeping an eye on him. Did they really think he was some sex crazed pervert out to corrupt their daughter? Apparently, they did. "How long until they're okay with you living here?" he asked.

"My dad might relax a bit sooner than my mom." she answered as she emptied her cup of the last few drops of coffee and rinsed it out. "My mom on the other hand...I think she's expecting me to go to them any day now announcing that I'm pregnant with your baby."

"She does know that we're just roommates, right?" he asked, a bit terrified by the thought.

"I've told her enough times, Popo has told her, too." Park grabbed her keys and a light jacket. "But there are times, once she gets something into her mind, she won't let it go."

"Scary." he shook his head. "Is Popo gonna be there?" he asked.

"I would assume so." Park replied. "Why? Do you have a love note you'd like me to pass on to her?"

"No, just the twenty bucks I owe her." he grabbed his wallet from the coffee table and pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

"When are you going to accept that you can't beat her at cards?" Park asked as she took the money.

"One of these days, her luck will run out."

"Or, one of these days, you might have to accept it's not luck on her part." Park countered. "She's just better than you."

"Be off with you now, woman." he shooed her towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah." Park said as she grabbed her purse.

"Call me when you get there." he called after her as she headed down the hall to the stairs.

"Okay, mother." she called back. She wasn't going to admit it, but she liked the fact that she had someone outside of her family worrying about her and looking out for her. She was definitely going to enjoy having a roommate. Especially if Chase was that roommate.


	8. Chapter 8

Adams sat across the table from Park staring at her. She didn't mean to, but she was still trying to figure out the friendship between Park and Chase. She hated to admit it, but when Chase turned her down for that date, it was a huge blow to her self-esteem. She had never been turned down. To be honest, she never had to do the asking. Men always approached her and she was the one to turn them down. But here she was, turned down and finding herself jealous of Chi Park. Park was nice enough, and a good doctor, but she was totally lacking in sex appeal. Add that to a rather...bizarre personality, and she couldn't figure out why Chase would rather spend time with Park instead of her.

"You know, this paperwork would get done faster if you focused your attention on them rather than me." Park remarked dryly as she turned the page in the file she had been working on.

"Sorry." Adams was startled. She thought she'd been being rather stealthy in her observation, or staring as some might call it, but obviously she was wrong.

They had arrived that morning to find Foreman in the conference room and five boxes of files sitting on the table. Files that House had been responsible for going over, making sure everything was correct and handing in to Foreman for his approval. Files that House had completely ignored and left for his team to deal with while he was ''off sick''. They had all noticed that Wilson was taking a sick day as well. They assumed there must be a casino or something opening if they decided to play hooky at the same time. Either that, or House wanted the day off so he had Wilson tied to a chair in his kitchen watching TV all day.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" Park asked as she tossed her pen down and sat back in her chair after noticing again that Adams was watching her.

"I'm sorry." Adams sighed. "I'm just a little confused as to how it is you and Chase, who is so different from you, can be such good friends."

"So, only like people can be friends?" Park was confused by Adams' fascination with their friendship. "Oh, I get it!" she leaned in. "You're jealous."

"No, that's not it." Adams scoffed. Of course that was it, but she wasn't going to admit it Park or Chase.

"You and Chase are the pretty ones, so you two should be really chummy, while Taub the gnome and I should be the best of friends."

"I never said that." Adams argued.

"You didn't have to." Park said. "You sitting there staring at me in amazement is enough to tell me I'm right."

"I was just thinking that friends usually have something in common.." Adams began.

"And you don't really know either of us outside of work." Park pointed out.

"You're right." Adams wanted this conversation to end. She felt like an idiot and rightly so. "I'm going to go see what's taking Chase and Taub so long getting that coffee." she said as she pushed her chair back and got to her feet. "Is there anything else you want?" she asked.

"No." Park shook her head.

Her mood had really gone down hill over the last week. Whitehall was back to his old ways, showing up where he wasn't expected and definitely not wanted, her parents were still going on and on about how she should move back in with them and now Adams was trying figure out why Chase would want to be friends with her. There were days she didn't even want to get out of bed, let alone leave home. She forced herself to finish the file she had been working on, the last file in that box. She placed the file back in its box and picked the box up to move it to the corner where it would wait for Foreman or his secretary to get them. That was the plan at least. Unfortunately for her, the bottom of the box gave way and the files fell to the floor in a messy heap.

"Crap." she groaned as she knelt down to pick up the papers.

For a large man, Kyle Whitehall moved very quietly. Park never heard him walk into the room as she was busy cleaning up the papers. He stood watching her for a few moments and thought she was such a sweet and beautiful girl, but he knew what she had been up to and he couldn't allow it to continue. A man could take only so much before he snapped.

"Hey, sweetie." he said softly. "We need to talk."

Park stood up quickly and turned to find herself staring at Whitehall's chest. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she peeked around him and realized he'd shut the door behind him.

"Like I said, we need to talk." he smiled down at her. "We need to talk about us."

Park couldn't take it anymore. For about a month this man had been making her life hell. Always going on about 'them' and their relationship. At the mention of ''us'', she lost it.

"There is no us!" she screamed. "There never has been and there never will be." she was trembling in fear and anger as she spoke. "Please, just go away and leave me the hell alone!"

Whitehall just smiled down at her again. "Sweetie, you don't want to say that."

"Yes, I do." Park tried to calm herself down. She knew it was not a good idea to make him angry.

"No, you don't!" he growled as he picked her up by the neck and slammed her against the wall. "I've been nothing but good to you, and this is how you treat me?"

Park could do nothing but kick her feet and claw at his hands and face.

"Damn it, Chi!" he let go of her and sent her falling to the ground in a gasping heap. "I've tried to be a good boyfriend, I've tried to be understanding." he began to move around as he spoke, the anger inside him bubbling over.

Park, gasping for air, couldn't get find the strength to get to her feet. She started to drag herself towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Whitehall asked when he looked over to see her crawling away. "We're not done talking!" he walked over and grabbed her ankle and dragged her back a few feet before picking her up by the hair. "Why are you being like this?"

"Please let me go." Park begged in a hoarse voice.

"No, you won't listen." he yelled as he tossed her and she landed on the table, sending the files and boxes flying.

Laying on the table, having the wind knocked out of her, she barely had enough strength to roll onto her side and let herself fall off the table and attempted once more to get to the door.

"I give and give to you, and yet you give nothing back." he continued to rant as he moved around the table and delivered two quick kicks to Park's stomach. "Why do you have to be like this?" he asked as he stood over her. "Look what you've done." he dropped to his knees, straddling her.

"Park!" Adams stood outside the conference room and banged on the glass wall that separated them.

"What's going on?" Chase asked as he approached with Taub dropping the coffee they'd gone off to fetch.

"Whitehall." Adams replied before heading off to find a security guard.

"We've gotta find a way in there!" Chase yelled as he tried the door and Taub tried the one that led into House's office.

He watched in horror as Whitehall wrapped his hands around Park's throat and started squeezing. Park was frantically kicking and punching at Whitehall's arms and chest.

Park tried as hard as she could to get the large hands away from her throat, but it was no use. As she thrashed around, she caught site of her purse just out of reach. With her last bit of energy, she just barely caught the edge of her purse strap and started to drag it towards her as she continued to use her other hand to claw at Whitehall's face. She managed to focus on reaching into her purse and finding what she sought. With her last surge of energy, she brought the stun gun that House had given her and pressed it to Whitehall's chest and pressed the button.

Park heard what sounded like glass shattering before Whitehall collapsed on top of her. The last thing she saw was Chase , Taub and Adams kneeling beside her. After that, it was all blackness.


	9. Chapter 9

House stared at the glass wall that separated his team's conference room from the hallway. Or rather, a large hole where part of the wall once stood. It was now surrounded in police tape, tiny bits of glass littering the floor inside. There was a group inside processing the area, taking pictures and measuring things. He couldn't figure out why they were measuring things, but measuring tapes were out and being used.

"When can I get into my office?" he asked one of the officers who was standing just outside the room. "I kind of have work to do."

"I'm sorry, sir." the man said. "We can't let anyone in until the scene has been processed and we're given the all clear."

"So I guess that means I can't do any work." he sighed. "What a shame." he added. "Guess I'll just have to go home and play the new Mass Effect." he smiled.

"You're not really going to just go home, are you?" Adams asked as she appeared at his side and watched the police move around.

"Is there something I should be doing here?" he asked as he headed for the elevator.

"Park was attacked." she reminded him. "And who knows what's happening to Whitehall..."

"Last I heard, he's dead." House said as he tapped the button to summon the elevator with the tip of his cane. "Not much to be done other than either burial or cremation. You know, to avoid the smell of a rotting corpse."

"What?" Adams was surprised. "How did that happen?"

"You were here, I wasn't." he tapped the button again impatiently.

"All of this happening and you're just going to go home." she couldn't believe how unfeeling he was at times.

"What does my standing around with you and half of Little Korea accomplish?" he asked as he impatiently headed for the stairs having given up on the elevator ever coming.

"You could talk to her parents, try to comfort them." she followed him.

"Have you been paying attention since we met?" he asked as he stopped before opening the door to the stairs. "Have I ever comforted anyone?"

"No." Adams replied. "It was stupid of me to assume you might actually give a damn about a member of your team. You didn't care when Chase was attacked and you don't care now."

"Thank you for noticing!" he called after her as she stormed off.

"You're an ass." Wilson said as he approached.

"Oh, don't you start." House sighed as he headed down the stairs.

"Why can't you just admit that you like your team?" Wilson asked.

"Maybe I don't." House replied without looking back once. "Has that ever occurred to you?"

"If you didn't like them, they wouldn't be on your team." Wilson argued. "And you'd have never given Park that stun gun, which of course is the only thing that kept her alive today."

"Actually, the stun gun was from you." House informed him.

"What?"

"I used your credit card to buy it." House explained. "I couldn't use my own. How would that look to my parole officer?"

"House!"

"Like you said, it saved her life." he smiled. "You should be proud for the gift you gave her. The gift of life."

"Other than the fact that it killed Kyle Whitehall."

"While he was trying to choke the life out of her." House countered.

"This is a mess."

"Pretty much." House nodded. "Good night."

"I'll keep you updated on her condition." Wilson called after the limping man.

"Whatever."

* * *

Chase patiently waited until Park's family left for the night, visiting hours having finally ended. He had considered going in while they were there, but decided against it. They should be alone as a family and not bothered by their daughter's roommate. Especially since they thought he was somehow corrupting her. Wanting to make sure they were gone, he waited a few minutes more before finally slipping in and settling into the chair next to her bed.

He kept replaying what happened over and over in his mind. He'd just gone to get some coffee. He didn't think he'd been gone that long. When he rounded the corner with Taub and saw Adams frantically pounding away at that glass he was scared. When he saw for himself what was taking place, he found himself terrified. He'd said he would be there to protect Park, that was part of the reason he wanted her to live at his place. If she didn't want to tell her parents what was happening, she should be with someone who knew, who could keep her safe. He thought he'd been doing a pretty good job so far, but now he could see what a failure he had been. Park had been attacked, she was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to IVs. Thankfully, miraculously, the damage hadn't been too severe. A couple of broken ribs, a bruised lung and trachea and a concussion. It could have been so much worse. Park could have been killed. Like Whitehall had been. He was certain her family hadn't told her yet that Whitehall had died from the use of that stun gun. Of course they hadn't, they had bigger things on their mind.

"It's kind of creepy when someone seems to be staring at you, and yet are totally oblivious to the fact you're staring back." Park suddenly said in a hoarse whisper, her throat killing her as she did so.

"I didn't mean to wake you up." Chase replied as he brought his chair closer.

"You didn't." she said softly. "Pain meds are wearing off and my ribs are killing me." she explained slowly.

"I can get a nurse." he offered, getting ready to get to his feet.

"Because as a doctor you can't administer them." Park offered a weak smile.

"Yeah, of course I can do that." he felt like an idiot for not thinking of that.

"How bad is it?" she asked as he moved around and started adjusting one of her IV drips.

"I thought they would have said." he replied. "A couple of broken ribs..."

"I meant...him...how bad is he?"

"Are you sure you want to talk about this now?" Chase asked, not really wanting to be the one to break the news to her.

"Yes." she was starting to become annoyed at everyone wanting to baby her.

"Okay." he took a deep breath and sat on the edge of her bed. "Whitehall had an undiagnosed heart problem."

Park's eyes widened and she swallowed hard, grimacing as she did so. "You just said 'had'."

"Yeah." he nodded as he stared at Park's hand that rested on top of the blankets. "The jolt from the stun gun stopped his heart."

"No." Park whispered. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. "I killed him?" she asked as tears started to fall. "I killed him."

"He started all of this." Chase said as he held her hand. "He came in here and attacked you. If you hadn't used that stun gun, you would be the one in the morgue, it would be your family mourning."

"I can't believe this is happening." she wiped her cheeks with her free hand. "I just stitched up his hand." she groaned.

"I know." Chase moved in and enveloped her in a hug. "I'm sorry, Park."

"I can't believe this is happening." she repeated as she sobbed into Chase's shoulder, soaking his shirt.

"It'll be okay." he whispered as he rocked her back and forth.

He knew what she was going through. To know you ended someone's life was hard. He still thought about Dibala and wondered if he did the right thing. Because he knew exactly what she was going through, he was determined to be there for her and to help her through this.


	10. Chapter 10

Park left the therapist's office and sighed in relief when she thought of the fact that she had only one session left before she could be cleared to go back to work. The last few weeks since she been released from the hospital had been a whirlwind. Two weeks spent in the hospital waiting for her bruised lung to heal were some of the most boring days of her life. She thought things might be better when she got to go home, but that thought was quickly killed when her mother, two aunts and three cousins decided that she needed round-the-clock care despite the fact she was a doctor that lived with a fellow doctor. Chase had enjoyed it, having freshly cooked, homemade meals waiting for him and an endless supply of snacks in the fridge. He was kind of sad when Park had finally had enough asked asked them all to leave and not to come back until she said it was okay. Some peace finally returned to her home.

She had to go to Princeton-Plainsboro to talk to Foreman to make sure everything was okay for her coming back. She was desperately eager to get back to work. Sitting around the apartment just allowed her thoughts to dwell on what had happened and she couldn't take that anymore. She still saw Kyle Whitehall's face sometimes..most of the time. Her therapist said that would disappear over time, that it was still a fresh wound. Give it time.

She pulled her car into the parking lot of the hospital and, looking at her watch, realized she was twenty minutes early. Well, better early than late. She got out of her car and locked it, although why anyone would want to steal her car or anything in it, but better safe than sorry she told herself. She looked around as she headed into the building and it dawned on her that she hadn't been back since she was discharged. She was jealous of Chase being able to come in everyday, she hadn't really thought about that until she looked up at the building. She was a bit nervous about walking through those doors, walking past the clinic where she first encountered _him_.

"Park, you're early." Foreman's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Oh, umm, yeah." she nodded and looked at her watch again. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." he said as he guided her towards his office. "We have to talk." he sounded serious.

"About when I can come back?" she asked, not liking the tone of his voice.

"Please come into my office." he said without any real reply.

Park followed him and saw a man in an expensive suit reading over some papers. She suddenly felt very anxious.

"Dr. Park, this is Mark Reynolds." he made the introductions and then indicated a chair for Park to sit in.

"What's going on?" she asked as she sat down and set her purse on the floor next to her. "He needs to be here to discuss when I can come back to work?"

"I don't want to have to do this." Foreman groaned.

"Do what?" Park asked, looking back and forth between the two men.

"Dr. Park, I'm afraid that you are going to be placed on suspension until further notice." Foreman answered as quickly as he could.

"What?" she jumped to her feet. "I've done everything you've told me to in order to come back to work. What happened?"

"Kyle Whitehall's family has filed a civil suit against you and the hospital for wrongful death." the man named Reynolds explained in a calm tone.

"What?" she sank back into her chair.

"They're upset over the fact that no criminal charges were brought against you." Reynolds went on. "And they feel that the hospital staff did not do enough to save him, that they were more focused on your care."

"I'm sure the quick money has nothing to do with it." Park observed. "Lose a kid, but that' s okay, the money will make up for it!"

"Dr. Park." Foreman said, wanting to calm her down. "I know that this is tough.."

"Do you?" she asked. "Are you being suspended and sued for trying to keep yourself from being killed by some freak who stalked you?" she got to her feet. "This is crap and you know it."

"You killed their son, even if it was in self-defense." Reynolds put in as though he was telling them something they didn't know. "And you used a stun gun you should never have been in possession of."

"I know that." Park snapped. "I'm on probation for a year for that. I have the same probation officer as House for crying out loud!" she turned to Reynolds, "And I never met to kill him!"

"Park..." Foreman got to his feet.

"How long will it take for this suit to be over with?" Park asked, brushing off Foreman's hands as he tried to get her to sit down again.

"It's hard to say." Reynolds replied. "It could be up to a month, depending on court scheduling."

"Just tell me where I need to be and when." Park grabbed her purse and left.

All that she had been through, doing what she was told was needed to do in able to return to work. It was all for nothing. She just had it all taken away from her.

"Hey, Park." Adams said as House and his team approached her. "How did it go with Foreman?"

"Yes, do tell us when we can expect you to join our big, happy family again." House added mockingly.

"Not for a long time." Park said, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"What happened?" Chase asked.

"I'm being sued." Park answered. "His family is suing me."

"What?" Adams gasped.

"I'm not saying it again." Park turned and left.


	11. Chapter 11

Chase carefully juggled holding onto the pizza and cartons of Chinese take-out as he unlocked the door to his apartment. On his way home he had stopped by and gotten what he had come to find out were Park's favorites things from a couple of her favorite restaurants. He had been trying to think of something that might cheer her up after having found out she was not only suspended from work, but also being sued. A couple of high calorie foods might be a good start to that end.

"Park?" he called out as he quickly dumped his keys and the food on the kitchen counter. "Park?" he called again.

"Yeah?" her voice drifted out from the direction of the bathroom.

"I got dinner." he replied. "Pizza from De Marco's and Chinese from Lao Shin."

"I'll be out in a minute."

He heard her hair dryer turn on and he set to work getting plates and silverware. He kept thinking that it wasn't fair that she was having to go through all of this. To be terrorized by that man, and now his family was continuing with the assault. He had been trying to think of a way to really help her since he saw her storm out of the hospital. He had one idea, but he wasn't sure who to contact to get what he needed.

"Pizza and Chinese?" Park asked as she emerged from the bathroom, already in her pajamas.

"Why not?" he shrugged. "What we don't eat, we just toss in the fridge."

"Mind eating at the coffee table?" she asked. "I got some movies I want to watch."

"Sure."

They set about getting everything moved to the living room and Park selected a movie and popped it into the DVD player.

"What are we watching?" Chase asked as he opened a carton containing kung pao pork.

"Egg roll please." Park held her plate out. "The Ring." she held up the DVD case.

"Oh, nice." Chase didn't care for horror movies, but he decided to humor her for the night.

They sat watching the movie in silence, only speaking when asking for some bit of food now and then. Chase let his gaze wander from the movie when Park wasn't looking and observed her. He was trying to see how upset she was. He had been expecting her to talk his ear off when he got home, to rant and rave about how unfair she felt all of this was. She would have been well within her rights to do so, but, so far, nothing. She was acting as though nothing was happening.

"Do you have to keep staring at me?" she asked as she continued watching the movie.

"Sorry." he fumbled with the last egg roll. "Are you okay?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Sure." she replied as she moved to sit on the floor, her back resting against the sofa.

"Okay." he didn't believe her, but he wasn't going to pressure her. He knew that was one thing that had driven him crazy after he had been stabbed. Everyone asking him if he was okay, over and over again.

"You've been a doctor for a long time." Park suddenly said as the credits started to roll. "Well, longer than me."

"Yeah, I have." Chase looked down at her from his spot on the sofa.

"So, you've lost patients before, right?"

"Of course." he had an idea where she was going with this.

"It's not the same though." she started fidgeting with a chopstick. "When you lose a patient, you've done everything you can but it wasn't enough." she continued fidgeting.

"Yeah." he felt he wasn't required to say too much, she just wanted to get some stuff off her chest.

"That's not what it was with _him._" she took a deep breath. "I wasn't trying to save him, I was trying to save myself.

Chase slid down to join her on the floor. "You didn't do it on purpose." he repeated what he felt like he'd said a hundred times before.

"I know." she looked at him. "I just get this feeling sometimes...like I should have done something else."

"You did what you had to do...the only thing you could do." Chase assured her. "You didn't make the conscious decision for him to die."

"I know." she nodded. "I hate doing this. I hate to keep going on like this, I just can't shake the feeling..."

"I'm going to let you in on a secret." Chase grimaced as he spoke. "Did hear about the Dibala case?"

"The African dictator who died?" Park asked. "Yeah, I heard there was some mix up..."

"There was no mix up." Chase blurted out. "Well, there was, but it wasn't an accident."

"It was intentional?"

"Yeah." he nodded. He didn't want to bring this up. He hadn't brought it up in years, there was never a reason to. "I made sure the mix up took place." He explained everything to her, in detail.

They sat in silence for a moment as Chase tried to get the feeling of unease to go away and Park to allow what she had just found out to sink in.

"If you hadn't done it, tens of thousands of people would have been rounded up like cattle and killed." Park finally broke the silence.

"I've told myself that a lot over the years." Chase sighed. "Sometimes it helps.."

"Other times it doesn't." Park understood.

Chase sat staring ahead feeling a nearly overwhelming urge to cry when he suddenly felt Park pull him into a hug. "Thank you for trusting me with this." she whispered.

"No problem." he gave a half-hearted laugh as he returned the hug and rested his head on hers.

* * *

"Mr. Chase?" a short man in a sports jacket and t-shirt said as he approached the table in the coffee house where Chase sat staring at a cup of over priced coffee.

"Mr. Daniels?" Chase guessed.

"That's me." the man smiled and took the seat opposite of Chase. "So, you'd like some private investigation work done."

"Yeah, I need you to find out all you can about a man named Kyle Whitehall and his family." Chase nodded.

"My secretary told you about my prices?" Daniels asked. He didn't come cheap, for a good reason.

"Yeah, it's not a problem." Chase assured him.

"It does my heart good to hear you say that." Daniels smiled again. "It will take a couple of weeks probably to get everything together..a couple of weeks minimum depending on what there is to find."

"That's fine." Chase nodded. "A court date hasn't been set yet."

"And you'd like a copy of my findings sent to this address?" he pushed a slip of paper across the table. It was the address for the lawyer Park had hired.

"Yes."

"He's not a bad lawyer, but he's not the best." Daniels commented.

"He's all my friend could afford." Chase explained.

"This isn't for you?" Daniels asked, surprised.

"No, it's for a good friend of mine."

"Must be a damn good friend if you're willing to pay what I charge." Daniels laughed. "Well, there are just a couple of papers I need you to sign, they just say you did hire me and agree to pay..."

Chase listened as the man spoke and signed where he was asked to do so. He could think of no other way to help Park at this point other than being there for her to talk to when she needed it. That would only get them so far.

Whitehall obviously had mental problems, they needed to know how far back they went and if his family knew and did anything about it. He felt like he was fighting dirty, but he didn't feel as though he had any other choice. Park had been through enough, he was not going to let her pay for what had happened anymore than she already had. She had no idea he had hired Daniels, and she wasn't going to unless Daniels could find something. He'd heard good things about him and he felt sure he'd hired the right man for the job.


	12. Chapter 12

Park sat in her lawyer's office and waited for him to join her. From what she could see, he was busy flirting with his assistant. She wished she had more money for a better lawyer, unfortunately, that wasn't an option for her. He'd called her and said some new information had come in about her case and he wanted to talk to her about it. And so she had been waiting on him for the last twenty minutes to finally let her know what he had found.

"Ah, Miss Park." he said as he finally decided to speak to her. "Thank you for coming in."

"Well you said you had some information about my case." she replied. "It would be kind of stupid of me not to come in."

"True." he nodded. "The police have sent over some things they took from Kyle Whitehall's bedroom at his parent's home. A lot of photos." he stopped before handing them over to her. "Are you sure you want to see them?"

"Yes." she nodded and held her hand out. She looked down at the photos and felt sick. They were pictures of her. Going to work, leaving work, in her car, going into stores. The more worrying thing was what was in the corner of each photo. "These time stamps..."

"The police took them directly from his room, he printed them out at home." her lawyer nodded.

"Some of these were taken almost a month before he came into the clinic." she continued leafing through them. "I'd never met him until that day."

"Ah, that's where the private detective's report comes in." he smiled.

"What private detective?" Park asked in confusion.

"You didn't know about the detective?" he was surprised. "Well, I guess someone retained him on your behalf. Someone who must like you a lot considering what this guy charges." he laughed. "He's a better investigator than I am a lawyer."

Park stared at him to see if he was joking and realized that, sadly enough, he was not. "That makes me feel good." she mumbled. "What did he find?" she asked, eager to hear all of what he had to report.

"Apparently Mr. Whitehall was at Princeton-Plainsboro for a psych evaluation just before those photos were taken." he informed her. "I can only assume that he saw you then..."

"And he just elevated himself to a whole new level of creepy." she stopped when she got towards the end of the photos. Pictures of the building where she now lived. Pictures of she and Chase carrying boxes through the front door of that building. The last few were of Chase by himself. "Do I want to know what these holes are in these last couple of photos?" she asked as she held up a photo of Chase apparently returning from a jog.

"They found those particular photos on a dart board." the lawyer replied. "Apparently, that gentleman was not one of his favorite people."

Park suddenly felt her worries about Chase having been in danger during that time were well founded. If he had killed her that day, would he have targeted Chase next?

"There are also some statements from teachers and school counselors." the lawyer continued, hoping to distract Park from the photos. "From what they have to say, Kyle Whitehall's obsessive behavior started when he was very young."

"How young?"

"The first complaint about him following and harassing a girl came when he was in fourth grade." he replied, handing her a folder. "I've made copies, so you can take these and go over them carefully when you have the time."

"I've been suspended from work until all of this is over." Park commented. "I have lots of time."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this, Miss Park." he said seriously. "Apparently, his parents were told several times over the years he needed professional help, but they never pursued it."

"And this is something we can use in court?" Park stared at the pile of photos again, half wishing she'd never seen them. To know that he had been watching her even longer than she had realized just made things so much worse.

"Definitely." he smiled.

"Okay." Park nodded, not being able to smile in return. "Thank you for keeping me up to date."

"You're my client, it's my job." he said as he got to his feet. "If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call and let me know."

"Thanks." Park held the folder to her chest tightly as she headed to the door.

"If you know who it is who is paying for that detective, you owe them a drink or dinner I'd say." he smiled as he held the door open for her.

"I think I have a good idea." she nodded. "Thanks, I'll see you later."

* * *

"How much is the private investigator costing you?" Park asked as she stood behind Chase, causing him to spill his coffee down the front of his lab coat and shirt.

"Hey, Park, it's nice to see you, too." he replied sarcastically as he grabbed a wad of napkins and began dabbing at his clothing.

"I'm sorry." she said as she handed him more napkins. "How much?" she repeated, this time in a more gentle tone of voice.

"Did he find anything useful?" Chase asked as he tossed the soaked and stained clump of napkins in the nearby trash.

"Whitehall had been following me for almost a month before he came into the clinic for stitches." she replied as she dug around in her purse, now and then handing him small packaged laundry wipes. "He was using a picture of you for target practice."

Chase's gaze suddenly went from the shirt he was applying the wipes to up to Park's face. "You're kidding me."

"I don't have much of a sense of humor where this is concerned." she shook her head. "It also turns out his parents have been told for years he was crazy and needed help."

"And yet they did nothing." Chase rolled his eyes in disgust.

"The detective didn't send you the same reports he sent my lawyer?"

"He did, I just got them today, but I haven't had a chance to go over them yet." he gave up on trying to salvage his shirt and tie. They were goners.

"They apparently sought out prayer groups left and right." Park went on.

"They were going to pray away the insane?" Chase couldn't hide the disgust he felt.

"It didn't work." Park sat down on the arm of the break room sofa. "How much are you paying for this?"

"It doesn't matter." he said as he poured himself another cup of coffee. "Don't worry about it."

"I want to pay you back." Park explained. "According to my cheap lawyer, this guy is expensive."

"Don't worry about it." Chase repeated.

"Chase." Park folded her arms over her chest and began tapping her foot. Chase had come to know that was a bad sign.

"I really don't need you to pay me back."

"Then I have to do something, even if it's not actually paying you back." she argued. "Name it, I'll do it."

"I'd be careful with that." he smiled.

"I'm serious."

"Okay, tonight, buy me dinner." he relented knowing full well she was not going to give up easily.

"Where?"

"I'll think about it." he said. "I've gotta get back to work, Park."

"Fine, I'll just go home, read the file and then take Popo to the senior center." Park sighed. "They surround me and tell me about their different medical problems."

"At least you've got something to keep you busy." he laughed.

"Yeah." she replied as she headed for the door, opening it and waited for Chase to go out ahead of her. "Remember to think of where you want to go. Anywhere."

"I will." he laughed. "Go on with you then, Popo won't wait for ever and you have old folks to diagnose."

Park stuck her tongue and headed off towards the elevator. She didn't care what he said, she was going to repay him. She began to wonder if he left any receipts laying around the apartment that might tell her how much he was spending on this detective. She wanted a number.

Chase smiled as he watched her leave. Her determination was adorable at times. He just didn't want her to find out he was paying over $10,000 for that detective. After she recovered from the shock of it, no doubt she'd offer to be his slave, or get extra jobs in order to repay him. No, she didn't need to know an exact amount. He would make sure she never would.


	13. Chapter 13

"Taco Johnny's?" Park said as Chase brought his car to a stop in the parking lot of small restaurant with a faded sign.

"Yeah." he nodded as he got out, Park following.

"I said you could pick any place, and this is what you chose?" she asked as they made their way into the rather shabby little building.

"I never pegged you for a snob." Chase replied teasingly.

"I'm not." she was quick to correct him. "It's just that I thought you'd pick something..."

"Something?" he prompted her to continue with her thought.

"Something more...appealing?" she couldn't quite find the word she was looking for.

"Have you ever eaten here?" he asked as he held the door open for her.

"No." she admitted. "Have you?"

"Yes, a few times." he nodded as they waited for someone to seat them. "I'm still alive."

"You picked the cheapest place possible, didn't you?" Park accused him. She knew that was what he had done. She found it both sweet and annoying at the same time.

"No, you said I could pick any place for dinner, and that's what I've done."

A short middle aged woman appeared and led them to a table in the back corner of the restaurant, took their drink orders and disappeared, leaving them to look over the menu.

"And how many trips here will it be before I'm done paying you back?" Park asked as she looked over the large menu in front of her.

"I'm not telling you what I paid him." Chase repeated for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"I'd be stupid not to accept your help, especially if he's found something that could kill the case for the Whitehalls." Park put her menu down. "But I can't accept not being able to repay you."

"You have to." Chase continued to look the menu over. "Accept it."

"I have to accept that I have to accept it?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I refuse to accept that I have accept it."

"If we keep on like this, I'm going to get a headache." he put his menu down, having decided what he would have. "Come on, let's just have a nice dinner."

"Fine." she sighed and began scanning again.

"Are you wearing perfume?" he asked.

"A little bit." she nodded, staring intently at the menu and wishing the waitress would return.

"And that shirt..." he stared at the pink v-neck sweater that she wore.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Did you get gussied up for me?" he smiled.

"Oh shut up." she rolled her eyes. "I can wear perfume and a nice sweater without it meaning anything."

"True." he laughed. "But..."

"But nothing." Park cut him off. "What are you having?" she asked, eager for a change of topic.

"The supreme taco platter." he replied with a smile.

"Stop that!" she demanded.

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"You're smiling."

"I'm not allowed to smile?"

"It's why you're smiling that bugs me." she held her menu up a bit higher.

"I just think it's sweet you put forth such effort to look nice for our dinner.."

"It's some perfume and a sweater." she put the menu down. "Are you saying that I usually look like a slob?"

"No, just..."

"Just what?" she asked, almost daring him to go on.

"What are you getting?" he asked.

"Just what?" she repeated as she rested her elbows on the table and stared at him.

"Oh, here comes the waitress!" he said as he waved to the woman. He didn't know where he was going with that, honestly. He did truly think that Park seemed a bit...different. She wasn't the type to put much thought into what she wore, or if she bothered with perfume. He was starting to wish he hadn't said anything.

"I have a lot of time on my hands." she explained. "I took Popo to the senior center this morning, talked to some of the people there, played some games with Popo and her center boyfriend." she leaned back in her seat. "After that, I had the day free so I thought I'd put in a little effort."

"Well, I'm glad you did." Chase smiled. "You look and smell lovely."

"Shut up." she rolled her eyes even as she felt herself blush.

"Popo has a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Jealous?"

"Well, I did think she and I had a certain something...a connection." he sighed. "I guess she's a love 'em and leave 'em type."

"I'm sure it's nothing serious." Park laughed. "Of course, a young guy who looks like you could have any woman you want at the senior center."

"Oh, rebounds!"

"Eat your heart out, Popo." Park raised her glass in a mock toast.

"I'll drink to that." Chase smiled.

* * *

Taub and Chase sat in the lab looking at blood samples and running a few tests. All in all, they were both enjoying the quiet. It was only a matter of time until they had to deal with House again, and since he was involved in some, no doubt bizarre, bet with Wilson, they all wanted to steer clear of both men.

"Nothing here." Chase said as he pulled away from the microscope and rubbed his eyes.

"Same here." Taub replied. "I don't want to go back to the conference room yet."

"Neither do I." Chase sighed. "I swear, sometimes it's like dealing with a couple of small children."

"I actually find my girls to be less exhausting." Taub said. "So, how was your date with Park last night?" he had been dying to ask all morning. He'd seen the two together the night before at Taco Johnny's but decided not to go over to say hello. They seemed to be having a good time and he didn't want to disturb them.

"Date?" Chase asked, totally confused. "When did she and I go on a date?"

"Last night, Taco Johnny's..."

"That wasn't a date." he informed him. "We were just having dinner."

"Oh, okay." Taub shrugged. "I guess I was mistaken."

"Yeah."

"Unless of course, you're saying it wasn't a date because you don't want House finding out and torturing you both with that information..."

"We were just having dinner." Chase repeated.

"Okay." Taub smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing..." he thought a moment. "It's just that you two have been spending a lot of time together, you're living together..."

"We're roommates and colleagues." Chase reminded the little man.

"You seemed like more than that last night, that's all I'm saying." Taub said. "I think it would be a good thing..for both of you."

"We'll keep that in mind." Chase said as he got to his feet and headed out the door. "I'm going to get some coffee." he told Taub should he need him.

"Okay." Taub nodded.

A date. With Park. A date with Park. Chase laughed and shook his head as he walked to the break room. A man and a woman could be friends and roommates without there being anything romantic or sexual about it. That made him stop to think however. Since Park had moved in with him, he'd only been with one woman, and that was only one night. He pushed the thought from his mind. It didn't mean anything, it was simply that there was so much going on, Whitehall's pursuit of Park, her being attacked and in the hospital and now with the lawsuit. She was his friend and she needed him. Just because he hadn't had a date in over a month, that meant nothing. Just that he was trying to be a good friend. One she could depend on when she needed friends the most. Of course that was it. What else could it be that he had never even thought of dating recently? It's not as though he needed the companionship of a date. Park gave him that since she was there everyday at home. There was just too much going on to think of dating. That's all it was. Of course.


	14. Chapter 14

Chase paced around in the hallway of the courthouse, waiting for Park and Foreman to emerge and tell them how things went. They all knew that $35 million was a ridiculous amount for the Whitehall's to be asking for, but they were also afraid that the judge would side with them. They were the grieving family after all.

"Would you please sit down?" Taub asked.

"At least if I'm up and moving around I'm not bored." Chase replied.

"But you're making me dizzy."

"This would be much easier if this was open to the public." Adams rolled her eyes.

They had already been waiting for the last two hours for some news. But as of yet, nothing.

"Hopefully it won't be too much longer." Taub leaned back on the hard bench and let himself rest against the cool, hard wall behind him.

"I can't believe House isn't here." Adams commented after a few moments of silence.

"I can't believe you've been working for House for nearly a year and you're still surprised by what he says and does." Taub replied.

Chase tried to drown out their voices. He had almost wished that neither of them had come along. It would be nice and quiet if they'd stayed either at home or at the hospital, but instead he was having to listen to them babble about absolutely nothing. He knew that part of his problem was nerves. He was afraid that they were going to come out of their saying the judge ruled in favor of the Whitehalls and he knew that there was no way Park could ever afford to pay half of a $35 million judgement. What would she do then? He may have had enough money to hire an ace detective for her, but he could never being to help pay that bill. Not that she would in a million years allow it.

"Chase, just sit down." Adams' voice cut into his thoughts.

He allowed himself to be led over to the bench where the other two waited. Pacing would do no more good than sitting there. He just hoped that they would hear something soon.

* * *

Park and Foreman sat in the court and waited nervously for the judge to take his seat. Park looked to her left, her lawyer sat next to her, and Foreman to her right had the hospital attorney sitting to his right. She looked over to the table where the Whitehalls sat with their lawyer and could just picture them celebrating when the judge awarded them a disgusting amount of money. Her lawyer had tried to convince her to file a counter suit, for her hospital bills and for ''pain and suffering'' as he put it, but she didn't want that. She wanted to all of this over and behind her as soon as she possibly could. She was sick of lawyers and after only one trip into the courthouse, she was sick of it as well.

"Good morning." Judge Harper said as he sat down in the large leather chair. "This is a very serious matter." he added as he looked over the file before him. He looked up and stared at the Whitehalls before speaking again. "I must say first off, I am sorry for your loss. I know the pain of losing a child."

Park and Foreman looked at each other, both finding the comment to be a bad sign of what was to come.

"And to Miss Park, I am also sorry." the judge continued. "I do not know the feeling of violation that you must now be familiar with, and it should never have happened to you." he cleared his throat. "That being said, I'm afraid Mr and Mrs Whitehall that I am throwing out your suit."

Park wanted to burst into tears as the words were spoken. A feeling of relief flooded her and she felt Foreman's hand on her shoulder and turned to see a smile on his face.

"While what happened to your son that day was tragic, you do own some responsibility in what took place." the judge went on once the Whitehall's attorney settled them down. "You were told years ago, when your son was only nine years old, that he was showing signs of obsessive behavior, he stalked one of his classmates. You ignored those warnings and suggestions that you seek help for your son..."

"My clients sought help for him according to their beliefs." their attorney spoke up.

"They put their religious beliefs above the mental well being of their own child." Judge Harper replied. "I am a Christian man and I do believe in the power of prayer, but I would never suggest to anyone that they use prayer as an alternative to physical or mental healthcare. Their prayers should have been something they did while he was given the counseling he so desperately needed."

Park wanted to scream in joy as the judge continued. That was exactly what she felt when she read the file the private detective sent to her lawyer.

"Because of this, over the span of more than ten years, your son stalked and terrorized six women." Judge Harper kept talking. "It sadly led to your son's death. I am certain that Miss Park did not wake up that morning ever imagining that not only would she have to fight for her life, but that she would have to take another life in order to preserve her own." he looked to Park. "I cannot begin to imagine what went through your mind during the attack, Miss Park. I honestly think I would never want to."

He took a drink of water and sat silent for a moment, almost as if to let his words sink in. "I will not force Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital or Miss Park pay such an excessive amount for what took place that day. On their part, it was a horrible accident. I've looked over the medical files and when you claim that they did not do enough to save your son, I've had three independent physicians tell me that according to the autopsy reports, your son was killed almost instantly."

"By a weapon Miss Park had in her possession illegally." the Whitehall attorney pointed out, grasping at straws as he realized the case was lost.

"And she has been placed on probation for that." the judge nodded, knowing full well that Park had the stun gun. He had done his research into all of this before deciding on his course of action. "It's still not enough for me to hand down such a judgement." he took a deep breath. "That being said, I have decided that you will be reimbursed for the cost of your son's treatment that day and the funeral costs that were incurred after this most tragic incident. I've looked over the files and I have decided to award you the reimbursement for both in the amount of $11,363.02." he waited for the groans on the Whitehall side of the room to subside. "The amount will be split between Princeton-Plainsboro and Miss Park. That means each side will have to pay $5,681.51 to the Whitehalls." he shuffled some papers and put them back into the folder which he took them from. "I'm sorry to disappoint you." he turned his attention to the Whitehalls. "But, you must own up to your part of what has taken place. And I do pray, honestly I do, that if you have anymore children and someone tells you they need some sort of help, physical or psychological, that you get them help immediately." he turned to Park and Foreman's side of the room. "And to Miss Park, I hope that you get the help you need to overcome what has taken place, you have to contend both being stalked, being attacked and the guilt that you no doubt feel from taking the life of Kyle Whitehall. It's not something I would wish on anyone." He took another sip of water. "That is my judgement. I wish all of you the best." he added before getting to his feet and heading into his chambers.

"That's it?" Park asked as she tried to ignore the glares coming from Mr. and Mrs. Whitehall as they left the room crying.

"That's it." both of the lawyers at her table nodded. "Congratulations for getting a fair minded judge."

"So I can go back to work?" she asked Foreman.

"The hospital board just needs to get the signed judgement from the court so they know all of this really took place, and then you can get back to mysterious illnesses and House torturing you."

"I think you have some friends waiting for you." her lawyer nodded towards the doors that stood open.

She quickly made her way out and stopped before them.

"Well?" Adams asked. "They were crying when they left, but that could be good or bad."

"I have to pay just over five grand for the cost of medical bills and funeral costs, and I can go back to work soon!" she smiled, shaking in excitement.

"That's great." Chase said as he picked her up and gave her a hug, spinning her around.

"Things can go back to normal now." Adams smiled as she took her turn hugging Park. "It's all over."

Chase saw the look that passed over Park's face. He knew that her legal worries were over and was happy she would be rejoining them at work, but he knew full well that the guilt of having killed another person was not going to go away. No amount of time could do away with that.


	15. Chapter 15

**Just a quick chapter before I head off to bed. It's not much, but I hope it's good enough for now LOL. Good night!  
**

* * *

"I feel like someone's taken about a hundred jackhammers to my head." Park slowly made her way out of the bathroom and proceeded to fall, very carefully so, onto the sofa. She groaned into the cushion.

"And stuffed an entire bag of cotton balls into your mouth." Chase winced as he finished off this fourth glass of water since waking up only ten minutes before.

"Is it always so bright in here?" she pulled the throw blanket from the back of the sofa down over her head.

"Are you always so loud?" Chase asked as he took some aspirin.

"I'm never drinking that much again."

The night before had been a celebration. Adams had declared that it would be her treat. Foreman had excused himself, but Taub, Chase, Park and Adams had decided to go out and make it a night. And what a night it had been. It started out at about 8 pm and did not end until Chase and Park stumbled in, rather loudly their neighbors had informed them, at around 3 am. How either of them managed to make it to their respective rooms was still a mystery to them both.

"I'm really glad I don't have to work today." Chase bent over the counter and rested his head on a kitchen towel.

"Uh huh." Park muttered. "I want to go back to bed."

"Then go."

"I can't." she sighed as she struggled to roll onto her back. "It's so far away."

"Then stay on the sofa."

"But I want to be in my bed." she grumbled.

"Then go to it."

"But I don't want to get up."

"We're going to start going in circles very soon." Chase forced himself to stand upright again. "I'm taking a shower."

"If you're heading there, you could carry me to my room." Park suggested.

"No." he shut the bathroom door behind him and she could hear the water start running.

"You're mean!" she yelled, quickly regretting it as it made her head feel as thought it would explode.

If she couldn't make it back to her room, she decided she'd just sleep a bit more on the couch. It was soft and comfortable, she thought, as she wrapped the blanket around herself. As she lay drifting off, she was able to piece together small parts of the night..and early morning...before. The bar, lights, music, people dancing. Then she had the vague memory of being at a karaoke bar, she and Adams singing. She tried to put the thoughts out of her mind, feeling she would have more than enough time to piece it together later. She let herself begin to drift off only to be brought back to reality by the shrill ringing of the doorbell. She sat up quickly and suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"Go away!" she yelled as she ran for the kitchen garbage can and began getting sick. "Go away!" she called again as the ringing continued.

She quickly rinsed her mouth out at the kitchen sink and groaned as she heard the doorbell continue to ring. "What part of go away do you not get?" she asked as she stomped to the door and flung it open only to find herself standing face to face with her mother.

"What's wrong?" the older woman asked as she put a hand on her daughter's forehead. "Are you sick?" she asked.

"No, mom, just hungover." she weakly swatted the hand away.

"Hungover?" her mother gasped. "You got drunk?"

"I had drinks with some of my co-workers last night." she muttered as her mother brushed past her carrying bags which no doubt contained more food.

"Park, can you get me a towel from the basket in my room?" Chase asked as he poked half his body out of the bathroom.

"Are you naked?" Mrs. Park asked as she stood staring wide-eyed at him.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was here." he apologized as he stepped back so that only his head was out. "Towel, Park, please."

"Why aren't they in there?" she asked as she made her way into his room.

"I forgot to put them in when I was done with laundry." he replied as he grabbed the towel she held out for him.

"You just go into his room like that?" her mother asked, not really liking to see her daughter so comfortable with her roommate. Her male roommate. Her naked, male roommate.

"It's an empty room, mom." Park rubbed her temples. "To get him a towel. It's not like he came walking out here naked."

"Getting drunk and living with naked men." her mother shook her head as she put containers into the fridge.

"He's not always naked." Park sighed. "What is that?" she asked as she got herself some water and a couple of the aspirin Chase had left on the counter.

"Kimchi." her mother replied as she eyed the bathroom door as if Chase would burst out naked and dripping wet any second. "Do you know when you'll be going back to work?" she forced herself to tear her gaze from the door.

"Soon." Park said, not wanting to talk too much about work. She had never told her parents about the lawsuit. They thought she was still waiting for her therapist to give the thumbs up.

"Tell me when you go back, I'll take you." her mother picked up her purse and gathered the bags she'd been carrying the food in. "I have to go pick up Popo."

"You'll take me?" Park asked as her mother moved to the front door.

"Your first day back." she stopped and nodded. "Of course."

"I have a car." she reminded her mother. "Or, sometimes Chase and I carpool."

"I'll take you." her mother repeated. "I'm leaving now. Don't come out of there until you're completely dressed." she called out towards the bathroom door.

"Of course." Chase replied.

"Good bye." her mother said quickly before leaving, Park staring after her.

"Is she gone?" Chase asked.

"Yes." Park sighed as she sank onto the sofa. She loved her family, but there were times when they could be overbearing. They didn't seem to realize or accept that she was an adult.

"Your mother scares the hell out of me." he said as he emerged from the bathroom, nothing but the towel around his waist covering him.

"You lied to her." Park stared after him as he closed his bedroom door behind him.

"I didn't have any clean clothes in there." he replied. "It's not like you haven't seen me in a towel before."

"I do have that pleasure every morning." she smiled.

"You lucky girl you." he said as he came back out as he pulled a shirt over his head. "You should take a shower, it might make you feel a bit less like dying." he went for more water.

"I will." Park said as she got to her feet, grabbing her bathrobe from her room on her way.

"So, you're going to let mommy drive you your first day back?" he teased.

"No, I'm not." she stopped as she headed in. "I'll get myself to work."

"She's going to be expecting you to call and let her know..."

"Which is why I'm not going to call." Park cut him off as she shut the door behind her.

"You've been keeping a lot from them lately." he called out before he heard the water start up.

It was true. She never mentioned Whitehall to them until she was laying in a hospital bed, she never told them about the lawsuit and now she wasn't going to let her mother know when she was going back to work? He knew that it was none of his business, he was just afraid that she was losing so much contact with them. He would have loved to be a part of a family that obviously cared so much about one another, but she seemed to find it a bother. Of course, not being from a close family, he supposed he also didn't know how suffocated she might feel. All the same, he hoped that Park moving in with him wasn't a mistake. He loved having her around, but he didn't want it to be at the expense of her family.


	16. Chapter 16

Park was nervous. It was silly that she felt so nervous. She had been working at Princeton-Plainsboro for a year already, but she felt just as nervous this morning as she had her first day there. It was going to be her first time back in the conference room since...She shook her head and tried to push that thought from her mind. She didn't want to think about that now. No doubt it would be all she could think about when she entered the room.

"Almost ready?" Chase asked as he filled his large travel cup with fresh coffee, doing the same with Park's cup.

"Yeah." she nodded as she waited for the coffee and fastened the lid.

"I'm sure Foreman would have given you a bit more time if you'd asked for it."

"It doesn't matter when I go back, I'm going to be nervous about doing it." Park shook her head.

"So, you never called your mum, right?" Chase asked as he grabbed his keys from the hook.

"For the last time, no." Park was getting tired of him asking her that. He didn't seem to grasp the idea that she didn't want her mom involved today.

"Okay." he cleared his throat a bit nervously as the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." he said as quickly made his way to open the door.

"Are you ready, Chi?" Mrs. Park's voice drifted to her.

"Mom?" Park walked over and saw not only her mother, but her father and Popo standing there.

"Are you ready?" Mr. Park repeated his wife's question.

"Why are you all here?" she asked even though she knew the answer.

"To take you to work." her mother smiled.

"Chase, I need to talk to you." she glared at him.

"We've gotta go now otherwise we'll be late." he smiled as he grabbed her bag from the hook by the door and gently pushed her out with her family.

* * *

"How long are you going to go without talking to me?" Chase asked as he and Park headed up to their apartment.

Park just kept walking, taking the stairs two at a time. She was still livid with him. She had said she wasn't going to tell her parents, asked him to stay out of it, and yet she was escorted to work like a child heading off for their first day of kindergarten.

"Park." Chase sighed as he followed her in.

"I don't feel like talking to you right now." she snapped as she headed off to her room.

"So you're just going to pout for a while?"

"I asked you not to call my mom." Park came back out of her room. "I asked you not to tell her when I was going back to work, and yet you did it anyway!"

"I don't get why you're so hellbent on keeping stuff from your family."

"Because I don't need them involved in everything I do." she replied. "You have no idea how suffocating they can be."

"Poor Park." he shook his head and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"What did you say?"

"Poor little Park." he repeated. "You have a family who actually gives a damn about what you do and what happens to you."

"Oh, please don't pull the whole "My daddy didn't love me" crap now, Chase." Park shot back. "I'm sorry you have such a crappy family life, but just because you see a family who seems to get along, that doesn't mean it's all great. Having them want to control everything you do, who you do it with and how you do it..."

"Oh, please stop,I'm going to cry."

"You have a chance to have some family, Chase." Park reminded him. "You have two sisters and a step-mother who, you admitted, has tried to form some kind of relationship with you."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I can understand having been pissed at your dad, and at your step-mother, but why your half-sister?" she asked. "You're going to punish her just because she's their kid?"

Chase drained the last of the beer from the bottle in his hand and stared at Park. He knew she was right. "I'm out of here." he said as he slammed the bottle down on the counter and quickly left.

Park immediately felt bad about what she had said. Just as he didn't know what it was like to have a hovering family, she didn't know what it was to have a family that seemingly didn't give a damn. She couldn't imagine what was going through his mind when he left. She had gone too far.

* * *

Three hours later, Chase got onto the elevator and was heading back upstairs. It had taken him a while to calm down. He still couldn't believe what Park had said to him, but he had to acknowledge that there was some truth to what she had said.

"I heard the fight you had with your girlfriend." a small voice said.

Chase looked to his right and saw the elderly lady who lived next door to them. "I'm sorry?" he asked.

"I didn't mean to hear." the woman continued. "But you two were being rather loud."

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to be so loud." he apologized. "And she's not..."

"She is right, you should talk to your family." the woman interrupted.

"Thanks." he smiled nervously. Having Park say it was bad enough, but for a total stranger to weigh in on it was a whole different matter.

"She's a nice girl." the woman smiled up at him as she patted him on the back.

"Yeah..." he sighed in relief when the doors opened to his floor. He really needed to remember to take the stairs from now on. "Park?" he called out as he walked through the front door.

"Hi." Park said as she opened the door to her room. "I..."

"I need to apologize." Chase cut her off. "I shouldn't have called your parents. I should have listened to you."

"I shouldn't have said what I did about your family." she quickly said before he could cut her off again. "I'm sorry, too."

"So, you accept my apology?" he asked with a smile.

"If you accept mine." she nodded.

"Deal." he laughed.

Park moved closer and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. He truly was her best friend and she hated fighting with him. They both needed to learn to recognize and respect boundaries. That should be easy enough.

Chase was more than willing to return the hug. Resting his chin on top of her head, however, he began to feel a bit odd. Without even really thinking about it, he moved back a bit and leaned down and kissed Park.

"What are you doing?" Park asked after allowing the kiss to go on for about a minute.

"I'm kissing you." he replied, honestly confused as to why he did it.

"Oh..." she moved back a bit feeling a bit flustered. "I should go to bed." she said, quickly trying to think of a reason to leave the room.

Chase watched as she fled the room. He felt disappointed and guilty. Guilty for making her feel uncomfortable and disappointed because she had practically run away from him. He didn't know how he was going to face her in the morning.

Park shut her door and leaned back against it as she tried to catch her breath. She had not been expecting that. It was good, he was as good a kisser as she'd imagined he'd be, but it was unexpected and it totally confused her. Why did he do that? He didn't actually have feelings for her, did he? What would happen to their friendship if that was the case? She moved over to her bed and fell face down onto it. She wanted to kick herself for stopping the kiss, but she also knew that it might have been a disaster if she hadn't. She knew they would have to talk about what had happened and that was scaring her. She did know that she had a bit of thing for Chase for a bit, but she thought that had gone away. She obviously was wrong about that.


	17. Chapter 17

**Just home from work, so here' s a quick chapter for you. Thanks for reading :D**

* * *

Park and Chase went about getting themselves ready for work the next morning in total silence. Both of them were to embarrassed and confused to say much to one another. Chase had tried to bring it up, but stopped himself before every actually uttering a word. They quietly and awkwardly made their way down to Chase's car and buckled their seat belts. Park was rather eager to get to work, she could find reasons to steer clear of Chase until she didn't feel so...weird. Chase started the car, put it in gear, but then suddenly returned it to park and turned the car off.

"What are you doing?" Park asked nervously. How was she to get to work and avoid him if he didn't get them there?

"We need to talk about last night." he replied. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out."

"It's okay." she took a deep breath. "I just wasn't expecting it."

"Neither was I." he admitted. "You might have been surprised, but you didn't seem repulsed."

"No." she blushed a little bit and looked out the window, she couldn't look him in the eye. "I wasn't repulsed, just shocked."

"So..." Chase said. "What do we do?" he asked, trying to get her to look back at him rather than the dog relieving himself on the tree outside their building.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Do we pretend that nothing happened?" he replied. "Or, do we see if there's something to what happened?" he knew which way he wanted to go, but he wanted to know she was on the same page.

"Why couldn't you have said this or kissed me that night we had drinks?" she asked.

"I'm sorry." he answered, honestly confused by her question. "I guess I wasn't in that place at the time." he added. "Is this your way of saying you want to pretend nothing happened?"

"No." she looked at him. "I'm just afraid. We've built a really good friendship, working well together, living together and you were my rock during...you know."

"I do." he nodded. "And you're afraid that if things don't work out with us as a couple, then the friendship we've built would be ruined." he sighed. That thought had crossed his mind as well.

"Yeah." she whispered as she stared at her feet. "I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"I don't want to lose you, either." he replied. "But, what if we don't see what's there, and we end up regretting that?"

"I didn't think of that." she replied. "Can I ask something?"

"Sure." he nodded.

"How many relationships have you been in since your divorce?"

"Real, serious ones?" he asked. "None." he replied when she nodded. "The closest I had was with the nun." he laughed.

"So, is it a serious relationship you're wanting now?" she looked back to him again.

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be thinking of you." he winced. "That sounded a bit insulting."

"A little bit." she agreed with a laugh. "But I know what you mean."

"Good." he shared in the laugh. "I don't think insulting you would be a good way to convince you to take a chance on us."

"So, you've already decided what you want to do."

"Yeah, I have." he nodded as his attitude turned more serious in nature. "You're still not sure. How about this...one date."

"One date?"

"We go on one date." he went on. "If you don't feel like it seems right, then we go back to friends only."

"Seems reasonable." she considered. "And if the date goes well..."

"Then we go from there." he was starting to feel like a kid on Christmas morning as he felt her coming around.

"Okay." she nodded. "Let's give it a try." she decided. After all she'd been through, why not take a chance. At least this was something she could control.

"Great." a broad smile spread across his face.

"Can we just not say anything to, well, anyone?" she asked. "I still have people doing the whole "Poor Dr. Park and all she's been through" when I walk by. The last thing I need is for nurses to start gossiping about the fact that the nerd is dating the hospital hunk."

"I'd have thought you'd want to rub people's faces in it." he started the car again. "I mean, I am the hospital hunk after all." he shot her a cheesy grin.

"I should not have said that." she shook her head in despair. She wondered how long he was going to hold on to that one.

"You said what you thought." he started to move the car along. "I rather like the title."

"I'm sure you do." she smiled.

"I will agree to this, though." he informed her. "If we keep it quiet, maybe we can keep House's mouth shut, too."

"That would be best." she agreed. "So...we're going to go on a date."

"Yeah, we are." he smiled. "You can pick whatever you want to do."

"Anything?" she asked.

"Anything."

"Okay, I know what I want to do." she smiled.

"That was quick." he glanced at her as they pulled up to a red light. "What will we be doing?"

"I will be kicking your ass." she said confidently. "You will be eating my dust."

"What are you talking about, woman?" he asked as the light turned.

"You'll see." she said, feeling rather smug.

Chase continued to drive along, all the while trying to figure out what she had planned. Some sort of competition, but what? He assumed dinner and a movie, but obviously she had other ideas. The look on her face and the tone of her voice had him a bit nervous.

"What will we be doing?" he asked.

"You'll see." she repeated.


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the long delay between chapters. Between work, home and the site not letting me log in, it's been a bit of a problem. Hope this will keep you happy for a short time at least :D**

* * *

Chase pressed down on the gas pedal in one last attempt to catch Park. He was surprised when she pulled her car into the parking lot of a go-cart track. He hadn't pegged her for the type who would enjoy racing around. But then again, he was getting to know her. That was the point of dating. Well, one point of dating anyway. He had finally caught up to her on the last lap and knew it was his last opportunity to pass her. She'd been leading all night, she was a bit of a demon on the track.

Park glanced to her left just slightly and saw that Chase was about to make his move to overtake her. She decided she couldn't let that happen, so she turned her steering wheel ever so slightly to make him rethink that move. How was she to know that he would over-correct and crash himself into the small guard rail that surrounded the center of the track?

She slammed on her brakes and ran over to Chase's overturned cart. "I'm so sorry." she said as she quickly knelt down next to him,seeing the crew who oversaw the track running towards them. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I hurt my leg." he groaned, his eyes closed in pain.

"Call an ambulance." she called to one of the approaching men when she remembered she had to leave her own phone in the little office before she could take to the track. "Is it just your leg?" she asked.

"Yeah." he nodded as he took deep breaths, hoping to control the pain a bit.

"Don't move it." she told the two men who had run out to help. "Don't do anything until the paramedics get here."

"One hell of a first date." Chase commented with a forced smile. "You're a dirty driver."

"I'm so sorry." she repeated as she held his hand and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

* * *

"Chase isn't going to be here for a few days." Park informed Foreman as they rode the elevator together.

"Yeah, he called me this morning." Foreman replied. "How did he break his leg?"

"He didn't say?" Park asked in surprise.

"Nope." he shook his head. "I heard you two were out on a date..."

"I didn't mean to break his leg." Park said defensively. "We were racing go-carts, and I wanted to win, but he was about to pass me..."

"I heard that you two were out at that cheesy taco place." Foreman stopped her. "Taub said he saw you two there a couple of weeks ago?"

"Oh, that." she felt like an idiot. "That wasn't actually a date..."

"But last night was?" Foreman smiled. "I see." he laughed. "You're a rough date." he joked.

"It was an accident." she argued. "I didn't mean to hurt him."

"Do me a favor, if you two go out again, try not to break anything else on him." he suggested. "He's the best surgeon we have, we need him here."

"Whatever." she knew she was going to be in for a lot of teasing. "Can you please not mention this to House, I don't need him taking shots at me, too."

"Just don't do anything to him above the waist and we'll be cool."

"Ummm, okay." Park replied.

"Surgeons need their hands." he pointed out as the elevator stopped.

"And two good legs to stand on."

"That does help." he nodded. "People are picky about having their surgeons falling over during procedures."

"Go figure."

"Here, give this file to House." he said as he handed her an all to familiar patient file.

"Is this something he's going to insist is boring?" she asked.

"A guy turning purple when he has no circulatory or breathing issues should keep him interested for a bit." Foreman replied. "Might even keep him busy enough to not ask too many questions about why it is your roommate broke his leg."

"I like this guy." Park smiled as she opened the file and began to read. "Why aren't you giving it to him?" she asked.

"I don't feel like arguing with him right now." he answered simply. "I've gotta figure out who is going to take my star surgeon's place while he's on crutches."

"Sorry." she called after him as he walked away.

* * *

"Hi." Park said as she quietly walked into Chase's hospital room. "Are you ready to go?" she asked as she watched him slip a t-shirt over his head.

"More than ready." he replied as he got to his feet and adjusted the crutches under his arms. "You're not gonna toss me down any stairs are you?"

"I said I was sorry." she groaned. "No more go-cart racing."

"That goes without saying." he chuckled. "So, what delicious food are you making me for dinner?" he asked as they slowly headed to the elevator.

"Me? Making you food?" she laughed. "You're either kidding or high on pain meds." she decided.

"No, I had a go-cart roll over on top of me, I've broken my leg." he shook his head. "All because you didn't want to lose a meaningless race."

"I'll buy you something really good." she offered. "Trust me, if I cook for you, you'll just be back here in the hospital."

"You can't cook at all?" he asked.

"In the time we've been living together, have you ever once seen me cook something?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it, you do seem to just warm things up a lot."

"Exactly." she held the door to the parking garage open for him. "So, if you tell me what you want me to buy you, it's yours."

"I was looking forward to a nice home cooked meal." he mumbled as they headed for her car.

"Well unless you want my mom to come over and cook for you, it's take out for you." she unlocked her doors and tossed her purse in before helping him into the passenger seat.

"Would she?" he asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Park asked, startled at the idea of her mother coming over to do anything.

"Depends, how much of the food that she left for is left?" he asked as he adjusted his injured leg and put his seat belt on.

"I think there's some stuff left in the freezer."

"You really hate the idea of her coming over." he stared at her.

"It was bad enough with us just being roommates, but if we're going to date, it's going to make things worse." Park explained.

"How?" he asked. "Why?"

"Because, before she thought you might convince me to do bad things, but if we're dating, then she knows we're doing bad things."

"I wish." Chase laughed. "To be honest, I'm a little afraid of you now."

"It was an accident." she insisted for what seemed like the hundreth time. "Besides, I promised Foreman I wouldn't touch you above the waist."

"That works for me." he replied with a mischievous grin.

"Does your mind ever wander away from sex?" she asked.

"It did last night when I was lying pinned under an overturned go-cart." he replied dramatically.

"Oh, shut up." she laughed as she fished some money out to pay the parking garage attendant.

"That's a very ugly bedside manner, Dr. Park."

"That's okay, because you're not my patient." she stuck her tongue out before pulling out into traffic.

"No, just your injured boyfriend." he sighed as Park tried her best not to blush at the last word of his sentence.

Was he seriously her boyfriend now? It was all she could do not to giggle like a schoolgirl.


	19. Chapter 19

Chase stood in the bathroom and flossed his teeth. It had been a long day and he was eager to just crawl into his bed and pass out. He tossed the used floss in the garbage and glanced at his watch one last time before turning off the bathroom light and heading to the bedroom. Park should have been home by now, he thought. She had an early day at work and went to dinner with her family, getting ready for some cousin's wedding. She said it would only be a few hours and that more than likely she would be home before him, yet he'd come home and no Park.

He checked his phone and saw that the last text he had received from her came about two hours before. He had asked if she was okay and had gotten a quick "Fine" in response. It was short and to the point, even by Park's standards. He couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about the fact she wasn't home yet, but tried to calm himself by thinking that if anything had happened, he would have been notified. They'd added one another as emergency contacts months ago. He took his watch off and tossed it on his nightstand and decided he needed to get some rest. He had four surgeries scheduled for the next day and he couldn't go into them sleep deprived. He didn't know how long it had been, but he found himself drifting off to sleep when he suddenly heard the front door slam and keys be tossed onto the table that stood by the front door.

"Park?" he asked, startled at the loud, sudden noises.

"Yes." she said as she walked into the bedroom, grabbed her pajamas from the chair near the closet and walked out.

"How did dinner go?" he asked as he got out of bed and followed.

"I'm going to kill my mother." she fumed as she changed.

"What happened?" he asked, a bit scared to know the answer.

"You wouldn't believe it." she replied as she pulled her hairbrush through her hair forcefully.

"Okay, give me that." he said as he wrenched the brush from her hand. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

"She's started making a guest list." she replied before starting to brush her teeth.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna need more than that." he said, totally confused.

"A guest list, for our wedding." she spit into the sink and tossed her toothbrush onto the counter before leaving the room.

"Wedding?" Chase asked. "Our wedding? What wedding?" he was in full panic mode. "Did I miss where we had discussed getting married?" he asked.

"If you did, I did too." she said as she ripped back the blankets on her side of the bed. "Apparently after we hit the six month mark, she sat down and started a list of wedding guests." she informed him.

"But..." Chase was at a loss for words. "Did she tell you all of this?" he asked, his mind reeling from the information that had just been piled onto him.

"No, my dad took me aside tonight and let me know." she took her glasses off and put them in their case on her own nightstand. "She's been getting ideas from my cousin's wedding, which she expects you to attend so you can 'get an idea of what's to be expected at least for the Korean half of the ceremony'." she buried her head under her pillow and let out a scream.

"I have no idea what to say right now." he sat, propped against the headboard staring straight ahead.

"We've made it eight months without letting anyone we work with now that we're more than roommates and friends." she said as she emerged from under the pillow. "What if she had sent invitations to them?"

"We'll just have to talk to her." he shrugged.

"I already did." she rolled onto her side and looked at him. "Did you know that she was eager for the next four months to get by so she could book the church we went to when I was a kid?"

"Oh no." he groaned.

"Don't worry." she assured him. "I've told her there will be no wedding and no grand kids." she gave his hand a quick squeeze. "I do feel better now that I've vented, thanks." she said as she sat up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to face the wall and turned her lamp off.

"Yeah, good night." he muttered as he sat in the dark, still in shock.

* * *

"Her mother is planning your wedding?" Foreman laughed. "That's hilarious."

"No, Foreman, it's not." Chase stared at the other man in shock. "How would you like it if your girlfriend's mother started planning your wedding after only six months of dating?"

"Well, since I have this job, I don't really have a life outside of it, besides babysitting house." Foreman replied. "Park set her mom straight, right?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Chase sunk into one of the chairs near the window.

"So what's the big deal?" Foreman asked.

"She ended her tirade last night by saying she told her mum that we would never be getting married or having kids." Chase replied as he stared out the window.

"Oh, and you since you two have never talked about marriage either way..."

"Her just automatically killing the idea altogether doesn't sit real well with me." Chase finished Foreman's sentence. He had thought of talking to Park about it, but he wasn't ready for that yet. He was still a bit hurt at the fact that she seemed to have made up her mind that they would never get married. They hadn't talked about it at all, but he was pretty sure he knew her feelings on the matter. That's what had led him to Foreman's office after his seconds surgery of the day to vent. Foreman was the only other person that knew he and Park were dating beside her family.

"And talking to her about this would just be silly." Foreman sat back in his chair.

"I just need some time to calm down a bit." Chase sighed as he rubbed his face. "Us talking when one of us is upset isn't a good idea."

"This is good." Foreman said after a few minutes of silence.

"The fact that my girlfriend would never want to marry me?" Chase asked.

"No, your whole relationship with her." Foreman replied. "It seems to be a more...I don't know, mature one than you had with Cameron."

"What are you talking about?" Chase was totally lost.

"You and Park have just developed more of a relationship than you and Cameron did." Foreman shrugged. "At least that's what it looks like to me. You and Cameron went from co-workers to sleeping together and then a bit of dating before you got married."

"There was more than that.."

"You and Park started out as co-workers, then became friends, roommates, really good friends and then into a relationship." Foreman finished.

"This doesn't help." Chase got to his feet and looked at his watch. "I've got surgery in half an hour, I need to go."

"Talk to your girlfriend about this!" Foreman called after him.

Chase knew that Foreman was right, and he had every intention of talking to Park about it. He was a bit afraid of that what she said the night before was going to be her final word. He wasn't sure if he wanted to get married again, he had already failed once with that, but he at least wanted the chance to talk as a couple about it and not have it be a one-sided decision after a fight with her mother.


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry it's been ages since I've updated and this one is so short, but I'll try to be more on my game for future chapters :D**

* * *

Park sat across from Chase as they ate dinner and stared at him for a few minutes without saying a word. She'd noticed he had been rather quiet the last couple of days and it, sadly, took her a bit before she understood what was bothering him. And even then, it was only because someone had filled her in on what was going on. She could be so oblivious at times.

"The other night I was mad." she finally said as she took another bite of spaghetti.

"Huh?" he asked as he looked up from the article he'd been reading.

"The other night when I got home and was mad about my mother..."

"Oh, yeah, I know." he nodded.

"I said that just to shut her up, and, well, to annoy her." she went on. "I have nothing against marriage, it's just that I wanted to get to her like she'd gotten to me."

"So, you haven't made any decisions either way about the possibility of us, someday far in the future, getting married?" he asked as he pushed the article aside.

"No." Park stared down at her food. She'd never been in a relationship where marriage had ever come up and now that she was, she found herself feeling very uncomfortable. "It's not a decision I can make on my own." she added as she continued to stare at the half-eaten spaghetti.

"No, it's something we should talk about together." he agreed. "Do you want to get married at some point?" he asked. "To me or to anyone?"

"I've never really thought about it." she shrugged. "I'm not totally against it, but to be honest I don't think it's a necessity."

"Neither do I." Chase smiled as he watched her play with her food.

"I mean, if two people are happy together, a piece of paper and a ring isn't going to make them any happier." she went on nervously.

"And sharing a name."

"If you and I ever got married, I'd never take your name." she laughed.

"Rude." he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He had to admit, finally talking to her about it was making him feel better.

"I would be Chi Chase." she pointed out as she looked up. "Doesn't sound very good."

"That's true." he agreed.

"There is one thing though." Park said as she took a deep breath. "I don't want kids."

"No?"

"No." she shook her head. "They're loud and smelly and really expensive. I don't wish any harm to them, but..." she continued. "That and the fact that I like my job and I don't want to have to sacrifice it to take care of a kid."

"I totally agree." he smiled.

"That's not a deal breaker for you?" she asked.

"No." he replied. "It's not like I've got genetics that should be passed on to another generation."

"So, what about you?" she asked. "You don't want kids, but what about getting married."

"I don't need to get married again." he answered without hesitation. "Like you said, if you're in a good relationship, that piece of paper and ring don't matter much."

"So, we're open to marriage." Park smiled.

"Yeah." Chase smiled back.

"Did you feel better after you spoke to Foreman?" she asked.

"How did you know I spoke to him?"

"You would need to vent and he's the only person outside of my family who knows about us and I don't see you talking to them about it." she explained.

"That would be awkward." he drained the bottle of beer in front of him. "Out of curiosity, when are we going to tell anyone else?"

"I don't know." she sighed. "It's kind of peaceful with them being in the dark."

"That is true." he nodded. "So, you want to keep us on a need-to-know basis?"

"Is that a problem for you?" she asked. "Just because we work with them doesn't mean we need to tell them everything."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." he got up and tossed his dishes into the sink. "I'm glad we talked about this."

"So am I." Park set her dishes into the sink and started running the water.

"I should have said something sooner that it bothered me." he said as he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"That would have been good." she laughed. "If Foreman hadn't said anything, would you?"

"If he hadn't said anything, would you have known what was bothering me?" he countered as he nuzzled her neck.

"I'd like to think that I would have figured it out sooner or later." she replied. She really did like to think she would have figured it out before it ruined their relationship.

"Well, it doesn't matter now." he chuckled. "We've spoken about it and your mother is going to back off and let us decide things for ourselves."

"In theory." she turned around and stood on tip-toe and kissed him.

"In theory?" he asked as he avoided her kiss.

"I promise." she corrected.

"That's better." he smiled as he moved in and finished the kiss she had started.


	21. Chapter 21

**Note: Sorry it's been soooo long since I've updated. It's a short chapter, but it's at least a start on the next phase. I hope you enjoy :D**

Foreman walked into his office, nose buried in a patient file. He took a seat behind his desk and it took him several minutes to realize Chase was sitting in one of the chairs near the window.

"Oh for the love.." he gasped as he dropped the file in surprise. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he asked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Chase smiled just a tiny bit.

Foreman could tell something was bothering him just by looking at him. The fact that he was just sitting in his office was also a bit of a clue. "What's going on?" he asked. "Another lover's spat?"

"She doesn't want kids."

"And you do?" Foreman closed the file, knowing this could take a while. He wasn't sure how it was that he had become Chase's sounding board, yet that's exactly what had happened.

"I'm open to the idea." Chase got up and took a seat across from Foreman.

"Tell her that." he felt like he was stating the obvious. "You'd save a lot of time you know."

"I'm okay with the idea of not getting married again, but having kids is different." Chase continued, totally ignoring what the other man had just said.

"And you're telling me this instead of Park..."

"I don't know. For some reason when she said it last night, I just found myself agreeing."

"You need help, my friend." Foreman sighed. "You two seem to have a pretty solid relationship, if you ignore the fact that you keep coming to me with these problems before you talk to her."

"I know." Chase got to his feet. "I will end up talking to her, I just needed to talk a bit before I do."

"So, you use me for practice?" Foreman asked.

"Yeah, kind of." Chase smiled. "Oddly enough, you're kind of my surrogate Park."

"I'm not sure how to take that, so I'm just gonna say that I have work to do, and so do you." Foreman shook his head. "Talk to your girlfriend."

"I will." Chase nodded. "Thanks."

"Please, don't mention it." Foreman shooed Chase so that he could get back to reading that file. "And I do mean that. Don't mention again that I'm your surrogate girlfriend."

"You could do worse than me."

"And I love you man, but as a brother and nothing more." he laughed. "Can you get out now, please?"

"I'm going, I'm going."

Chase didn't know why he couldn't just bring up some of this stuff with Park when the topic first came up. Some how he found himself freezing, agreeing with stuff, and then having to talk to her about it later. Maybe it just took him a while to process what was being said, but he didn't like to think of himself as being so...dense. That was the only word he could think of for the way he had been acting lately.

* * *

Chase let himself into his apartment, removing his jacket and kicking off his shoes before the door even had a chance to close behind him. He knew Foreman was right. He had to be honest with Park about important stuff while they were actually having the discussions. He headed for the fridge and grabbed a beer as he looked down at his watch. She was out with one of her cousins and wouldn't be home for an hour or two at least. Time enough for him to gather some Dutch courage before tackling the issue of kids.

Popping the top off the beer he saw that the light was flashing on their answering machine and made his way over to it. Three messages awaited them. He felt so popular. Pushing the play button, he carried his beer into the bedroom and began to change into some comfortable lounge wear. One could only do the slacks and tie for so long after all.

"Hi, Chi?" a man's voice drifted into Chase from the living room. "It's Chris Yuen, I'm calling you about an opening we have an opening in our operation in Daeseong-dong. I know you applied quite a while ago, but if you're still interested, give me a call..."

Chase walked out of the bedroom, his t-shirt only half-way on, one arm in the sleeve, the other just hanging bare outside of it. Park applied to work...well, he couldn't pronounce the name of the place without having to replay the message and he didn't want to do that. When did she apply? Why hadn't she mentioned that she'd applied. She must have done it well before they became involved. Had she forgotten about it? Of course, how likely was it that she would have applied for a job and then forgotten that she'd done it?

"Okay, there's nothing to worry about until you speak to her." he told himself. "Even if she decided she wanted to go to..." he got to his feet and replayed the message as he opened up his laptop and tried to figure out how to spell the damned city's name. It took him a few tries, but he finally got it. South Korea. She'd applied to work in South Korea? "Stay calm until you've spoken to her." he told himself as he closed the laptop. "Stay calm." he repeated as he made his way to the fridge and took out another beer. He had a feeling he was going to need a lot of courage for the night ahead of him.


	22. Chapter 22

**Glad I could make some people happy by finally updating. Here's another chapter. I feel inspired, so I should be putting out a few over the next few days :D**

* * *

"I swear Mari could win a gold medal if shopping were an Olympic event." Park said as she dropped the two handfuls of shopping bags onto the floor. "Luckily, she insists on buying her shopping buddy stuff and won't let you pay for anything while you're with her." she smiled as she flopped onto the couch next to Chase as he stared at the TV in front of him.

"Daeseong-dong." he said as he turned to look at her.

"Have we decided that 'hello' has gotten old?" she asked in confusion.

"You have a message on the machine." Chase replied as he got up and headed into the bathroom.

Park made her way to the table on which the machine sat and hit the play button. She listened to the first message and understood Chase's odd mood.

"So, that's what this is about?" she asked with a sigh.

"You want to go work in South Korea?" he leaned against the door frame. "When did you apply? Was it recent?"

"It was more than a year ago." she explained. "Well, the second time I applied was over a year ago."

"You've applied more than once?" this news received a raised eyebrow.

"The first time was right after I finished med school." she started clearing up the empty beer bottles. "Nothing came of that, and then when I thought I was going to get fired after, you know punching you-know-who..." she rather not use the creep's name. "I applied again."

"You never mentioned this." he pointed out as he moved to take a seat at the small dining room table.

"No, when I applied the last time, we had just met and started working together, so why would I have mentioned it?" she shrugged.

"But after we started dating.."

"It had been so long, I thought they'd rejected me for a second time." she explained.

"So, what is this job?" he asked, feeling a bit calmer, and much more nauseous from all the beer he'd downed while waiting for her to come home.

"This group takes care of some of the refugees that come across from North Korea, or ones that get smuggled into China and Mongolia." she said, taking a seat across from him. "You can imagine the horrible condition most of those people are in."

"Sounds like a good cause." he started fidgeting with the placemat in front of him. "Are you going to take it?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"I don't know." she said, nearly whispering as she spoke. "I like my job here, and I love you and what we have..."

"But you're thinking about taking this job in South Korea." Chase finished the sentence she'd left hanging.

"I would be doing so much good work there." her voice back to its normal level and she was now making full eye contact with him as she spoke. "That's why I applied the first time. To help people who have been through so much and have nothing..."

"I do understand the merit of working over there." Chase leaned forward and buried his head in the palms of his hands. His head was starting to pound and he felt as though he was about to be sick all over the table and Park.

"You look like hell." Park said as she leaned forward herself and began rubbing his forearms. "You should go lay down." she suggested.

"We need to talk about this." he weakly argued.

"We can talk later." she moved around to his side of the table and helped him to his feet. "Come on."

"I don't want you to move half way around the world." he mumbled as he allowed himself to be helped into bed.

"I never said I was going to." she groaned as she practically tucked him into the bed. "This is a big decision, so we need to talk about it when you're not drunk and about to hurl all over the both of us." she said as she left the room.

"I'm not that drunk." he argued as he tried to sit up.

"Get back down!" she ordered as she walked back in carrying the small garbage can from the bathroom and glass of water. "Get some rest, let this get out of your system and then we can talk."

She headed for the door again once she knew that he was down for good. How could she have forgotten that she'd applied again? Because of everything that had happened over the last year, that's how. She couldn't have known she was going to be in a relationship, let alone a serious relationship and living with her boyfriend. She couldn't have known that she was going to have a job she liked being on a great team and helping people who were at their wit's end.

But she couldn't deny that working with that group in South Korea would be great. Not only would she be helping people who were so desperate for help, she felt as though would also be getting in touch with her heritage, half of it at least. She was confused and had no idea what to do. Usually she'd just talk to Chase about all of this, but at the moment he wasn't in any condition to talk about this, and she didn't know if he could be objective. She didn't think he would stand in her way and try to stop her from doing something that would make her happy, but she knew how much she could hurt him.

She was torn. Not only would she be giving up a great job here in New Jersey, but she would also be leaving Chase and her family. She'd never been away from them for very long. College was the longest she'd been away, but even then she visited her parents as often as she could and they would visit her. It wouldn't be so easy to do that when she was on the other side of the world.

She walked into the living room and started out the window. Now was a time she wished she had more friends. Ones that would help her decide what was best for her. Her family would want her to stay here. They would be too worried about her being so far away. Chase would likely be worried about their relationship and, like her family, would be uneasy about the distance. To be honest, she would be unhappy about it, too. But she couldn't deny that she wanted go to. She wished she could just pack up the people she cared for the most and take them with her, but she knew that wasn't an option.

She thought about who she could talk to. She needed to talk to someone. Her mind went to Taub, Adams and lastly, and frighteningly enough, House. She didn't think House would care, or give a straight answer either way. Adams and Taub seemed to be her best bet for an objective sounding board. She decided it would have to be one of them and as soon as she could. She looked in once more on Chase before grabbing her purse and phone and heading out. She brought up Adam's number on her phone. She was first alphabetically, so she thought she would try talking to her first. She hoped she could get some good advice. And soon.


End file.
